Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Experimental Reconstruction of the Contact Resonance Shape Factor for Quantification and Amplification of Bias-induced Strain in Atomic Force Microscopy

Published

Author(s)

Jason P. Killgore, Akshay Deolia, Lawrence H. Robins, Todd Murray

Abstract

The contact resonance (CR) of a surface coupled atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever can act as an amplifier of AC surface motion for piezoresponse force microscopy and related methods. However, the amplifier properties of the CR vary depending on tip-sample boundary conditions, leading to the appearance of displacement amplitude contrast when only stiffness contrast exists. It was recently proposed that the shape of the vibrating cantilever as a function of CR frequency could be analytically modeled and a shape factor calibration could be applied. Here, we demonstrate an experimental reconstruction of the contact resonance shape factor that can be used to quantify surface displacements in AFM measurements, without reliance on analytical models with uncertain input parameters. We demonstrate accurate quantification of surface displacement in periodically poled lithium niobate and pave the way for quantification of extremely small surface strains in the future.
Citation
Applied Physics Letters

Keywords

Atomic Force Microscopy, Piezoresponse, Ferroelectrics

Citation

Killgore, J. , Deolia, A. , Robins, L. and Murray, T. (2019), Experimental Reconstruction of the Contact Resonance Shape Factor for Quantification and Amplification of Bias-induced Strain in Atomic Force Microscopy, Applied Physics Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=927346 (Accessed March 29, 2024)
Created April 4, 2019, Updated September 4, 2020