Issue 7, 2012
From the journal:

Nanoscale

Spatial horizons in amplitude and frequency modulation atomic force microscopy†

Josep Font,‡a   Sergio Santos,‡b   Victor Barcons,a   Neil H. Thomson,c   Albert Verdaguerd  and  Matteo Chiesa*be  

* Corresponding authors

a Departament de Disseny i Programació de Sistemes Electrònics, UPC—Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Av. Bases, 61, 08242 Manresa, Spain

b Laboratory of Energy and Nanosciences, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE
E-mail: mchiesa@mit.edu

c Dept. of Oral Biology and School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, UK

d Centre d' Investigació en Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (CIN2) (CSIC-ICN), Esfera UAB, Campus de la UAB, Edifici CM-7, Bellaterra, Catalunya, Spain

e Dep. of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA

Abstract

In dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM) the cantilever is vibrated and its dynamics are monitored to probe the sample with nanoscale and atomic resolution. Amplitude and frequency modulation atomic force microscopy (AM-AFM and FM-AFM) have established themselves as the most powerful methods in the field. Nevertheless, it is still debatable whether one or the other technique is preferred in a given medium or experiment. Here, we quantitatively establish and compare the limitations in resolution of both techniques by introducing the concept of spatial horizon (SH) and quantifying it. The SH is the limiting spatial boundary beyond which collective atomic interactions do not affect the detection parameters of a given feedback system. We show that while an FM-AFM feedback can resolve a single atom or atomic defect where an AM feedback might fail, relative contrast is in fact equivalent for both feedback systems. That is, if the AM feedback could detect sufficiently small amplitude shifts and there was no noise, the detection of single atoms or atomic defects would be equivalent in AM-AFM and FM-AFM.

Graphical abstract: Spatial horizons in amplitude and frequency modulation atomic force microscopy

About
Cited by
Related
Download options Please wait...

Supplementary files

Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C2NR12012G
Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Dec 2011
Accepted
17 Jan 2012
First published
26 Jan 2012

Nanoscale, 2012,4, 2463-2469

Permissions

Request permissions

Spatial horizons in amplitude and frequency modulation atomic force microscopy

J. Font, S. Santos, V. Barcons, N. H. Thomson, A. Verdaguer and M. Chiesa, Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 2463 DOI: 10.1039/C2NR12012G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements