Abstract
The light emission stimulated with scanning tunneling microscope was studied. The consistent picture for the atomic-scale contrasts was observed on noble metal surfaces. It was stated that the atomic resolution on Au and the contrasts at steps were a consequence of the local electronic structure and its effect on elastic and inelastic tunneling channels. It was observed that a light intensity modulation resulted from different spatial distributions of local density of final states in the elastic and inelastic tunneling channels.