Selected Applications
attoAFM I
Low Temperature Piezoresponse Force Microscopy on BiFeO
Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM) is a standard tool at room temperature to
investigate new materials, especially multiferroics. However in many cases the
scientifically interesting phases only exist at low temperatures o r high magnetic
fields, what demands the extension of this technique to extreme conditions. In
collaboration with our customers, we adapted our attoAFM based on the general
purpose ASC500 for PFM measurements. In the measurements here we investigated
BiFeO3 a well know room temperature multiferroic. The figure shows piezoresponse
amplitude after a box in the box writing at 160 K on the sample.
(attocube application labs, 2013; Sample courtesy of Neus Domingo & Gustau Catalan, CIN2 Barcelona, Centre
d’Investigació en Nanociència i Nanotecnologia, Bellaterra, Spain)
Conductive-Tip AFM Measurements on Ruthenium
In this application, atomic steps on Ruthenium were investigated using con-
ductive-tip AFM. Atomic steps as well as spiral dislocations can be identified
on the molecular beam epitaxy-grown sample. The contrast in this measure-
ment is highly enhanced due to a difference in conductance between edges
and flat plateaus. Such high contrast was not observed in the accompanying
topographic image. A voltage of +10 mV was applied to the standard Pt-coated
AFM tip, while the sample was grounded via a current amplifier with gain 106
V/A. The measurement was performed at room temperature in a 20 mbar He
atmosphere.
(Sample and measurement courtesy of V. Da Costa, J.-F. Dayen, B. Doudin, IPCMS-DMONS,
CNRS/University of Strasbourg, France)
Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy of Au-on-Pt Pattern
The measurements shown here were performed on a test sample consisting of a Au
layer on a Pt substrate in dual pass mode. The KPFM image was recorded during the
second line with a lift height of about 50 nm. The color scale spans approximately
130 mV, and the image size is 11.9 µm x 11.9 µm.
We found a KPFM contrast of approx. 35 mV, and a KPFM resolution (noise level) of
approx. 2.6 mV.
(attocube application labs 2014)
attoMICROSCOPY
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