Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy [Paperback]

Since 1995, the noncontact atomic force microscope (NC-AFM) has achieved remarkable progress. Based on nanomechanical methods, the NC-AFM detects the weak attractive force between the tip of a cantilever and a sample surface. This method has the following characteristics: it has true atomic resolution; it can measure atomic force interactions, i.e. it can be used in so-called atomic force spectroscopy (AFS); it can also be used to study insulators; and it can measure mechanical responses such as elastic deformation. This is the first book that deals with all of the emerging NC-AFM issues.Since 1995, the noncontact atomic force microscope (NC-AFM) has achieved remarkable progress. Based on nanomechanical methods, the NC-AFM detects the weak attractive force between the tip of a cantilever and a sample surface. This method has the following characteristics: it has true atomic resolution; it can measure atomic force interactions, i.e. it can be used in so-called atomic force spectroscopy (AFS); it can also be used to study insulators; and it can measure mechanical responses such as elastic deformation. This is the first book that deals with all of the emerging NC-AFM issues.1 Introduction.- 1.1 AFM in Retrospective.- 1.2 Present Status of NC-AFM.- 1.3 Future Prospects for NC-AFM.- References.- 2 Principle of NC-AFM.- 2.1 Basics.- 2.1.1 Relation to the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM).- 2.1.2 Atomic Force Microscope (AFM).- 2.1.3 Operating Modes of AFMs.- 2.1.4 Scanning Speed, Signal Bandwidth and Noise.- 2.2 The Four Additional Challenges Faced by AFM.- 2.2.1 Jump-to-Contact and Other Instabilities.- 2.2.2 Contribution of Long-Range Forces.- 2.2.3 Noise in the Imaging Signal.- 2.2.4 Non-Monotonic Imaging Signal.- 2.3 Frequency-Modulation AFM (FM-AFM).- 2.3.1 Experimental Setup.- 2.3.2 Applications.- 2.4 Relation between Frequency Shift and Forces.- 2.4.1 Generic Calculation.- 2.4.2 Frequency Shift for a Typical TipSample Force.- 2.4.3 Calculation of the Tunneling Cl£P