Nanoscale Elastic-Property Mapping with Contact-Resonance-Frequency AFM

Published

December 31, 2004

Author(s)

Donna C. Hurley, Tony B. Kos, Paul Rice

Abstract

We describe dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques to map the nanoscale elastic properties of surfaces, thin films, and nanostructures. Our approach is based on atomic force acoustic microscopy (AFAM) methods that have previously been used for quantitative elastic-property measurements at a fixed sample position. AFAM measurements determine the resonant frequencies of an AFM cantilever in contact mode to calculate the tip-sample contact stiffness k*. Local values for elastic properties such as the indentation modulus M can be determined from k* using the appropriate contact-mechanics models. To enable imaging at practical rates, we have developed a frequency-tracking circuit based on digital signal processor architecture to rapidly locate the contact-resonance frequencies at each image position. We present contact-resonance frequency images obtained using both flexural and torsional resonant cantilever modes as well as the resulting contact-stiffness (k*) image calculated from the frequency images. Methods to obtain elastic-modulus images of M from stiffness images are also discussed.

Proceedings Title

Proc. Materials Research Society Conf.

Volume

838E

Conference Dates

November 29-December 3, 2004

Conference Location

Boston, MA, USA

Conference Title

Mater. Res. Soc. Conf.

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

atomic foce acoustic microscopy, atomic force microscopy, elastic properties, nanomechanics

Citation

Hurley, D. , Kos, T. and Rice, P. (2004), Nanoscale Elastic-Property Mapping with Contact-Resonance-Frequency AFM, Proc. Materials Research Society Conf., Boston, MA, USA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=30030 (Accessed October 27, 2025)