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Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy

Kelvin probe force microscopy is a scanning probe technique used to quantify the local electrostatic potential of a surface. In common implementations, the bias voltage between the tip and the sample is modulated. The resulting electrostatic force or force gradient is detected via lock-in techniques...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ritz, Christian, Wagner, Tino, Stemmer, Andreas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Beilstein-Institut 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7308609/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32596095
http://dx.doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.11.76
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author Ritz, Christian
Wagner, Tino
Stemmer, Andreas
author_facet Ritz, Christian
Wagner, Tino
Stemmer, Andreas
author_sort Ritz, Christian
collection PubMed
description Kelvin probe force microscopy is a scanning probe technique used to quantify the local electrostatic potential of a surface. In common implementations, the bias voltage between the tip and the sample is modulated. The resulting electrostatic force or force gradient is detected via lock-in techniques and canceled by adjusting the dc component of the tip–sample bias. This allows for an electrostatic characterization and simultaneously minimizes the electrostatic influence onto the topography measurement. However, a static contribution due to the bias modulation itself remains uncompensated, which can induce topographic height errors. Here, we demonstrate an alternative approach to find the surface potential without lock-in detection. Our method operates directly on the frequency-shift signal measured in frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy and continuously estimates the electrostatic influence due to the applied voltage modulation. This results in a continuous measurement of the local surface potential, the capacitance gradient, and the frequency shift induced by surface topography. In contrast to conventional techniques, the detection of the topography-induced frequency shift enables the compensation of all electrostatic influences, including the component arising from the bias modulation. This constitutes an important improvement over conventional techniques and paves the way for more reliable and accurate measurements of electrostatics and topography.
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spelling pubmed-73086092020-06-25 Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy Ritz, Christian Wagner, Tino Stemmer, Andreas Beilstein J Nanotechnol Full Research Paper Kelvin probe force microscopy is a scanning probe technique used to quantify the local electrostatic potential of a surface. In common implementations, the bias voltage between the tip and the sample is modulated. The resulting electrostatic force or force gradient is detected via lock-in techniques and canceled by adjusting the dc component of the tip–sample bias. This allows for an electrostatic characterization and simultaneously minimizes the electrostatic influence onto the topography measurement. However, a static contribution due to the bias modulation itself remains uncompensated, which can induce topographic height errors. Here, we demonstrate an alternative approach to find the surface potential without lock-in detection. Our method operates directly on the frequency-shift signal measured in frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy and continuously estimates the electrostatic influence due to the applied voltage modulation. This results in a continuous measurement of the local surface potential, the capacitance gradient, and the frequency shift induced by surface topography. In contrast to conventional techniques, the detection of the topography-induced frequency shift enables the compensation of all electrostatic influences, including the component arising from the bias modulation. This constitutes an important improvement over conventional techniques and paves the way for more reliable and accurate measurements of electrostatics and topography. Beilstein-Institut 2020-06-15 /pmc/articles/PMC7308609/ /pubmed/32596095 http://dx.doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.11.76 Text en Copyright © 2020, Ritz et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/termsThis is an Open Access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Please note that the reuse, redistribution and reproduction in particular requires that the authors and source are credited. The license is subject to the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology terms and conditions: (https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/terms)
spellingShingle Full Research Paper
Ritz, Christian
Wagner, Tino
Stemmer, Andreas
Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy
title Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy
title_full Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy
title_fullStr Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy
title_full_unstemmed Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy
title_short Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy
title_sort measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain kelvin probe force microscopy
topic Full Research Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7308609/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32596095
http://dx.doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.11.76
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