Spatial Dimensions in Atomic Force Microscopy: Instruments, Effects, and Measurements

Published

August 15, 2018

Author(s)

Ronald G. Dixson, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Ichiko Misumi, Gaoliang Dai

Abstract

Atomic force microscopes (AFMs) are commonly and broadly regarded as being capable of three dimensional imaging. However, conventional AFMs suffer from both significant functional constraints and imaging artifacts that render them less than fully three dimensional. To date a widely accepted consensus is still lacking with respect to characterizing the spatial dimensions of various AFM measurements. This paper is to propose a framework for describing the dimensional characteristics of AFM images, instruments, and measurements. Particular attention is given to instrumental and measurement effects that result in significant non-equivalence among the three axes in terms of both data characteristics and instrument performance. Fundamentally, our position is that no currently available AFM should be considered fully three dimensional in all relevant aspects.

Citation

Ultramicroscopy

Volume

194

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2018.08.011

Keywords

AFM, spatial dimensions, 2D, 3D, CD-AFM

Citation

Dixson, R. , Orji, N. , Misumi, I. and Dai, G. (2018), Spatial Dimensions in Atomic Force Microscopy: Instruments, Effects, and Measurements, Ultramicroscopy, [online], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2018.08.011 (Accessed October 7, 2025)