Scanning probe microscopy

Scanning probe microscopy

Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) is a branch of microscopy that forms images of surfaces using a physical probe that scans the specimen. An image of the surface is obtained by mechanically moving the probe in a raster scan of the specimen, line by line, and recording the probe-surface interaction as a function of position. SPM was founded with the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope in 1981.

Many scanning probe microscopes can image several interactions simultaneously. The manner of using these interactions to obtain an image is generally called a mode.

The resolution varies somewhat from technique to technique, but some probe techniques reach a rather impressive atomic resolution. They owe this largely to the ability of piezoelectric actuators to execute motions with a precision and accuracy at the atomic level or better on electronic command. One could rightly call this family of techniques "piezoelectric techniques". The other common denominator is that the data are typically obtained as a two-dimensional grid of data points, visualized in false color as a computer image.

Contents

Established types of scanning probe microscopy

Of these techniques AFM and STM are the most commonly used for roughness measurements.

Probe tips

Probe tips are normally made of platinum/iridium, silicon nitride or gold. There are two main methods for obtaining a sharp probe tip, acid etching and cutting. The first involves dipping a wire end first into an acid bath and waiting until it has etched through the wire and the lower part drops away. The remainder is then removed and the resulting tip is often one atom in diameter. An alternative and much quicker method is to take a thin wire and cut it with a pair of scissors or a scalpel. Testing the tip produced via this method on a sample with a known profile will indicate whether the tip is good or not and a single sharp point is achieved roughly 50% of the time. It is not uncommon for this method to result in a tip with more than one peak; one can easily discern this upon scan due to a high level of ghost images.

Advantages of scanning probe microscopy

  • The resolution of the microscopes is not limited by diffraction, but only by the size of the probe-sample interaction volume (i.e., point spread function), which can be as small as a few picometres. Hence the ability to measure small local differences in object height (like that of 135 picometre steps on <100> silicon) is unparalleled. Laterally the probe-sample interaction extends only across the tip atom or atoms involved in the interaction.
  • The interaction can be used to modify the sample to create small structures (nanolithography).
  • Unlike electron microscope methods, specimens do not require a partial vacuum but can be observed in air at standard temperature and pressure or while submerged in a liquid reaction vessel.

Disadvantages of scanning probe microscopy

  • The detailed shape of the scanning tip is sometimes difficult to determine. Its effect on the resulting data is particularly noticeable if the specimen varies greatly in height over lateral distances of 10 nm or less.
  • The scanning techniques are generally slower in acquiring images, due to the scanning process. As a result, efforts are being made to greatly improve the scanning rate. Like all scanning techniques, the embedding of spatial information into a time sequence opens the door to uncertainties in metrology, say of lateral spacings and angles, which arise due to time-domain effects like specimen drift, feedback loop oscillation, and mechanical vibration.
  • The maximum image size is generally smaller.
  • Scanning probe microscopy is often not useful for examining buried solid-solid or liquid-liquid interfaces.

References

  1. ^ Binnig, G.; C. F. Quate, Ch. Gerber (1986-03-03). "Atomic Force Microscope". Physical Review Letters 56 (9): 930–933. Bibcode 1986PhRvL..56..930B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.56.930. PMID 10033323. 
  2. ^ Kaiser, W. J.; L. D. Bell (1988). "Direct investigation of subsurface interface electronic structure by ballistic-electron-emission microscopy". Physical Review Letters 60 (14): 1406–1409. Bibcode 1988PhRvL..60.1406K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.60.1406. PMID 10038030. 
  3. ^ Zhang, L.; T. Sakai, N. Sakuma, T. Ono, K. Nakayama (1999). "Nanostructural conductivity and surface-potential study of low-field-emission carbon films with conductive scanning probe microscopy". Applied Physics Letters 75 (22): 3527–3529. Bibcode 1999ApPhL..75.3527Z. doi:10.1063/1.125377. 
  4. ^ Higgins, S. R.; R. J. Hamers (1996-03). "Morphology and dissolution processes of metal sulfide minerals observed with the electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope". J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B. 14. AVS. pp. 1360–1364. doi:10.1116/1.589098. http://link.aip.org/link/?JVB/14/1360/1. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 
  5. ^ Weaver, J. M. R.; David W. Abraham (1991). "High resolution atomic force microscopy potentiometry". Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures 9 (3): 1559–1561. Bibcode 1991JVSTB...9.1559W. doi:10.1116/1.585423. 
  6. ^ Fritz, M.; M. Radmacher, N. Petersen, H. E. Gaub (1994-05). "Visualization and identification of intracellular structures by force modulation microscopy and drug induced degradation". The 1993 international conference on scanning tunneling microscopy. 12. The 1993 international conference on scanning tunneling microscopy. Beijing, China: AVS. pp. 1526–1529. doi:10.1116/1.587278. http://link.aip.org/link/?JVB/12/1526/1. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 
  7. ^ Nonnenmacher, M.; M. P. O'Boyle, H. K. Wickramasinghe (1991). "Kelvin probe force microscopy". Applied Physics Letters 58 (25): 2921–2923. Bibcode 1991ApPhL..58.2921N. doi:10.1063/1.105227. 
  8. ^ Hartmann, U. (1988). "Magnetic force microscopy: Some remarks from the micromagnetic point of view". Journal of Applied Physics 64 (3): 1561–1564. Bibcode 1988JAP....64.1561H. doi:10.1063/1.341836. 
  9. ^ Sidles, J. A.; J. L. Garbini, K. J. Bruland, D. Rugar, O. Züger, S. Hoen, C. S. Yannoni (1995). "Magnetic resonance force microscopy". Reviews of Modern Physics 67 (1): 249. Bibcode 1995RvMP...67..249S. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.67.249. 
  10. ^ BETZIG, E.; J. K. TRAUTMAN, T. D. HARRIS, J. S. WEINER, R. L. KOSTELAK (1991-03-22). "Breaking the Diffraction Barrier: Optical Microscopy on a Nanometric Scale". Science 251 (5000): 1468–1470. Bibcode 1991Sci...251.1468B. doi:10.1126/science.251.5000.1468. PMID 17779440. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/251/5000/1468. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 
  11. ^ Roelofs, A.; U. Bottger, R. Waser, F. Schlaphof, S. Trogisch, L. M. Eng (2000). "Differentiating 180° and 90° switching of ferroelectric domains with three-dimensional piezoresponse force microscopy". Applied Physics Letters 77 (21): 3444–3446. Bibcode 2000ApPhL..77.3444R. doi:10.1063/1.1328049. 
  12. ^ Reddick, R. C.; R. J. Warmack, T. L. Ferrell (1989-01-01). "New form of scanning optical microscopy". Physical Review B 39 (1): 767. Bibcode 1989PhRvB..39..767R. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.39.767. http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v39/p767. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 
  13. ^ Matey, J. R.; J. Blanc (1985). "Scanning capacitance microscopy". Journal of Applied Physics 57 (5): 1437–1444. Bibcode 1985JAP....57.1437M. doi:10.1063/1.334506. 
  14. ^ Eriksson, M. A.; R. G. Beck, M. Topinka, J. A. Katine, R. M. Westervelt, K. L. Campman, A. C. Gossard (1996-07-29). "Cryogenic scanning probe characterization of semiconductor nanostructures". Applied Physics Letters 69 (5): 671–673. Bibcode 1996ApPhL..69..671E. doi:10.1063/1.117801. http://link.aip.org/link/?APL/69/671/1. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 
  15. ^ Chang, A. M.; H. D. Hallen, L. Harriott, H. F. Hess, H. L. Kao, J. Kwo, R. E. Miller, R. Wolfe, J. van der Ziel, T. Y. Chang (1992). "Scanning Hall probe microscopy". Applied Physics Letters 61 (16): 1974–1976. Bibcode 1992ApPhL..61.1974C. doi:10.1063/1.108334. 
  16. ^ Hansma, PK; B Drake, O Marti, SA Gould, CB Prater (1989-02-03). "The scanning ion-conductance microscope". Science 243 (4891): 641–643. Bibcode 1989Sci...243..641H. doi:10.1126/science.2464851. PMID 2464851. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/243/4891/641. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 
  17. ^ Wiesendanger, R.; M. Bode (2001-07-25). "Nano- and atomic-scale magnetism studied by spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy". Solid State Communications 119 (4-5): 341–355. Bibcode 2001SSCom.119..341W. doi:10.1016/S0038-1098(01)00103-X. ISSN 0038-1098. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TVW-43J17SG-N/2/3a2fedcd6455295ad2be66a4b5b19635. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 
  18. ^ De Wolf, P.; J. Snauwaert, T. Clarysse, W. Vandervorst, L. Hellemans (1995). "Characterization of a point-contact on silicon using force microscopy-supported resistance measurements". Applied Physics Letters 66 (12): 1530–1532. Bibcode 1995ApPhL..66.1530D. doi:10.1063/1.113636. 
  19. ^ Xu, J. B.; K. Lauger, K. Dransfeld, I. H. Wilson (1994). "Thermal sensors for investigation of heat transfer in scanning probe microscopy". Review of Scientific Instruments 65 (7): 2262–2266. Bibcode 1994RScI...65.2262X. doi:10.1063/1.1145225. 
  20. ^ Binnig, G.; H. Rohrer, Ch. Gerber, E. Weibel (1982). "Tunneling through a controllable vacuum gap". Applied Physics Letters 40 (2): 178–180. Bibcode 1982ApPhL..40..178B. doi:10.1063/1.92999. 
  21. ^ http://wwwex.physik.uni-ulm.de/lehre/physikalischeelektronik/phys_elektr/node252.html
  22. ^ Trenkler, T.; P. De Wolf, W. Vandervorst, L. Hellemans (1998). "Nanopotentiometry: Local potential measurements in complementary metal--oxide--semiconductor transistors using atomic force microscopy". J. Vac. Sci. Techn. B 16: 367–372. Bibcode 1998JVSTB..16..367T. doi:10.1116/1.589812. 
  23. ^ Volker Rose, John W. Freeland, Stephen K. Streiffer (2011). "New Capabilities at the Interface of X-Rays and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy". In Kalinin, Sergei V.; Gruverman, Alexei (Eds.). Scanning Probe Microscopy of Functional Materials: Nanoscale Imaging and Spectroscopy (1st ed.). New York: Springer. pp. 405–431. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-7167-8_14. ISBN 978-1-4419-6567-7. http://www.springerlink.com/content/p7390580006x7434/. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • scanning probe microscopy — Methods for visualizing surfaces at microscopic scale that rely on moving a tiny probe over a surface (usually in an x y scan), and recording some property of interest (current, force) at each coordinate. These techniques have the ability to… …   Dictionary of molecular biology

  • Scanning voltage microscopy — (SVM) sometimes also called nanopotentiometry is a scientific experimental technique based on atomic force microscopy. A conductive probe, usually only a few nanometers wide at the tip, is placed in full contact with an operational electronic or… …   Wikipedia

  • Scanning capacitance microscopy — (SCM) is a variety of scanning probe microscopy in which a narrow probe electrode is held just above the surface of a sample and scanned across the sample. SCM characterizes the surface of the sample using information obtained from the change in… …   Wikipedia

  • Scanning gate microscopy — (SGM) is a scanning probe microscopy technique with an electrically conductive tip used as a movable gate that couples capacitively to the sample and probes electrical transport on the nanometer scale. Typical samples are mesoscopic devices,… …   Wikipedia

  • scanning tunnelling microscopy — A form of ultra high resolution microscopy of a surface in which a very small current is passed through a surface and is detected by a microprobe of atomic dimnensions at its tip that scans the surface by use of a piezodrive. In the simplest form …   Dictionary of molecular biology

  • Spin polarized scanning tunneling microscopy — (SP STM) is a specialized application of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) that can provide detailed information of magentic phenomena on the single atom scale additional to the atomic topology gained with STM. SP STM was developed by Roland… …   Wikipedia

  • Microscopy — is the technical field of using microscopes to view samples and objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well known branches of microscopy, optical,… …   Wikipedia

  • Scanning tunneling spectroscopy — (STS) is a powerful experimental technique in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) that uses a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to probe the local density of electronic states (LDOS) and band gap of surfaces and materials on surfaces at the… …   Wikipedia

  • Scanning tunneling microscope — Image of reconstruction on a clean Gold(100) surface …   Wikipedia

  • Scanning electron microscope — These pollen grains taken on an SEM show the characteristic depth of field of SEM micrographs …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”