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SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY

OUTLINE
Background and History
Scanning Probe Microscopy
comparison
Types
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)
-Advantage
-Disadvantage
-Application

Scanning Probe Microscopy

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is a new branch of

microscopy .
An image of the surface is obtained by moving the probe in a

raster scan of the specimen, line by line, and recording the

surface images.
The position of the tip with respect to the surface must be very

accurately controlled (to within about 0.1 ) by moving either the

surface or the tip.

It is possible to accurately control the relative positions of tip

and surface by ensuring good vibrational isolation of the
microscope and using sensitive piezoelectric positioning device.

Types of scanning probe microscopy

AFM, atomic force microscopy

EFM, electrostatic force microscope
FMM, force modulation microscopy
MFM, magnetic force microscopy
STM, scanning tunneling microscopy
SVM, scanning voltage microscopy
SHPM, scanning Hall probe microscopy

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM)

The STM is an microscope that uses a single atom tip
to attain atomic resolution.

Basic operation
An extremely fine conducting probe is held
about an atoms diameter from the sample.
Electrons tunnel between the surface and the tip,
producing an electrical signal.
While it slowly scans across the surface,
the tip is raised and lowered in order to keep
the signal constant and maintain the distance.
This enables it to follow even the smallest
details of the surface it is scanning.

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STM Modes of Operation

Constant Current
Maintain a constant tunneling
current by adjusting the separation

Constant Height
Maintain a constant height and
measure the current change

Problems and Solutions

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Bringing the tip close to the surface and scanning the surface

Feedback Servo Loops

Keeping the tip close to the surface
Converse Piezoelectricity
Creating a very fine tip
Electro-chemical etching
Forces between tip and sample
Negligible in most cases
Mechanical vibrations and acoustic noise
Soft suspension of the microscope within an ultra
high vacuum chamber (10-11 Torr)

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STM Images

Xenon on Nickel (110)

Nickel (110)

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Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)

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Introduction
Most widely used branch of scanning probe microscopy
Operates by measuring the interaction force between the

tip and sample.

AFM - is the van der Waals force between the tip and the
surface; this may be either the short range repulsive force
(in contact-mode) or the longer range attractive force (in
non-contact mode).
Working concept of AFM

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AFM
1. Laser
2. Mirror
3. Photodetector
4. Amplifier
5. Register
6. Sample
7. Probe
8. Cantilever

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AFM OPERATION
An atomically sharp tip is scanned over a surface with

feedback mechanisms to maintain the tip at a constant

force (to obtain height information), or height (to obtain
force information) above the sample.
Tips are typically made from Si3N4 or Si, and extended
down from the end of a cantilever. A diode laser is focused
onto the back of the reflective cantilever.
As the tip scans the surface of the sample, moving up
and down with the contour of the surface, the laser beam
is deflected into a dual element photodiode which
measures the difference in light intensities between the
upper and lower photodetectors, and then converts to
voltage.

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Basic set-up of an AFM

The ability of an AFM to achieve near atomic scale resolution depends on the

three essential components:

a cantilever with a sharp tip,
a scanner that controls the x-y-z position, and
the feedback control and loop.

Cantiliever with a sharp tip. The stiffness of the cantilever needs to be less.
The tip should have a radius of curvature less than 20-50 nm (smaller is

better) a cone angle between 10-20 degrees.

Scanner. The movement of the tip or sample in the x, y, and z-directions is
controlled by a piezo-electric tube scanner, similar to those used in STM.
For typical AFM scanners, the maximum ranges for are 80 mm x 80 mm in the

x-y plane and 5 mm for the z-direction.

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Feedbackcontrol.Theforcesthatareexerted
betweenthetipandthesamplearemeasuredbythe
amountofbending(ordeflection)ofthecantilever.
Bycalculatingthedifferencesignalinthephotodiode
quadrants,theamountofdeflectioncanbecorrelated
withaheight.
BecausethecantileverobeysHooke'sLawforsmall
displacements,theinteractionforcebetweenthetip
andthesamplecanbedetermined.

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AFM Operation Modes

Contact Mode
Tip remains in the repulsive regime of the inter-molecular force

curve

Tapping Mode
Tip is oscillated at a high frequency
Deflections in the oscillations

are observed

Non-Contact Mode
Tip is oscillated outside

of the repulsive regime

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Applications

The AFM is useful for obtaining three-dimensional topographic

information of insulating and conducting structures with lateral

resolution down to 1.5 nm and vertical resolution down to 0.05 nm.
These samples include clusters of atoms and molecules, individual

macromolecules, and biological species (cells, DNA, proteins).

Similar to STM operation, the AFM can operate in gas, ambient, and

fluid environments and can measure physical properties including

elasticity, hardness, friction and chemical functionality.
Metals: tooling studies, roughness measurements, corrosion studies...
Solid powder catalysts: aggregate structural determination

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Advantages

The AFM has several advantages over the scanning

electron microscope (SEM).

Unlike the electron microscope which provides a twodimensional projection or a two-dimensional image of a
sample, the AFM provides a true three-dimensional surface
profile.
Additionally, samples viewed by AFM do not require any
special treatments (such as metal/carbon coatings) that would
irreversibly change or damage the sample.
This makes it possible to study biological macromolecules
and even living organisms.
In principle, AFM can provide higher resolution than SEM. It
has been shown to give true atomic resolution in ultra-high
vacuum (UHV).

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Disadvantages

A disadvantage of AFM compared with the

scanning electron microscope (SEM) is the image size.

The SEM can image an area on the order of millimetres by

millimetres with a depth of field on the order of millimetres.

The AFM can only image a maximum height on the order of

micrometres and a maximum scanning area of around 150 by 150

micrometres.
Another inconvenience is that at high resolution, the quality of an

image is limited by the radius of curvature of the probe tip, and an

incorrect choice of tip for the required resolution can lead to image
artifacts.

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AFM Images

10 m scan Tapping Mode image of a CD (left) and a DVD (right) surface disc

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References
G. Binnig and H. Rohrer. "Scanning Tunneling

Microscopy", IBM J Res. Develop., 30:355, 1986.

G. Binnig, H. Rohrer, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy -

From Birth to Adolescence, Nobel lecture, December 8,

198m
Wikipedia, Scanning Tunneling Microscope,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_tunneling_microsco
pe

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