Liquid contact resonance AFM: analytical models, experiments, and limitations. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Contact resonance AFM (CR-AFM) is a scanning probe microscopy technique that utilizes the contact resonances of the AFM cantilever for concurrent imaging of topography and surface stiffness. The technique has not been used in liquid until recently due to analytical and experimental difficulties, associated with viscous damping of cantilever vibrations and fluid loading effects. To address these difficulties, (i) an analytical approach for contact resonances in liquid is developed, and (ii) direct excitation of the contact resonances is demonstrated by actuating the cantilever directly in a magnetic field. By implementing the analytical approach and the direct actuation through magnetic particles, quantitative stiffness imaging on surfaces with a wide range of stiffness can be achieved in liquid with soft cantilevers and low contact forces.

published proceedings

  • Nanotechnology

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • Parlak, Z., Tu, Q., & Zauscher, S

citation count

  • 20

complete list of authors

  • Parlak, Zehra||Tu, Qing||Zauscher, Stefan

publication date

  • November 2014