An atomic force microscope integrated with a helium ion microscope for correlative nanoscale characterization

• Santiago H. Andany,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Stefan Hummel,
• Charlène Brillard,
• Mustafa Kangül and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1272–1279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.111

• integration. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); combined setup; correlative microscopy; helium ion microscopy (HIM); self-sensing cantilevers; Introduction Shortly after the invention of the atomic force microscope (AFM) in 1986 [1], efforts were made towards combining this scanning probe microscopy

• used, in situ, in between exposures to assess the shrinkage, stiffness change or sputtering of the resist. More applications such as conductive AFM, piezo-force microscopy or magnetic force microscopy are within reach of the presented technology and would make AFM–HIM appealing to the microelectronics

• [24] with very high resolution. Magnetic properties of nanostructures can be measured using magnetic force microscopy (MFM) [42], and a host of AFM techniques are available to measure electrical properties of samples (e.g., conductive AFM (cAFM) [43], scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) [44], and

Ultrasensitive detection of cadmium ions using a microcantilever-based piezoresistive sensor for groundwater

• Dinesh Rotake,
• Anand Darji and
• Nitin Kale

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1242–1253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.108

• . It was calibrated using atomic force microscopy (AFM) [40]. The process begins with thermal oxidation of Si at 1000 °C using an oxidation furnace to obtain a thermally grown SiO2 layer followed by masking and etching to get the desired pattern. The polysilicon is deposited in a low-pressure chemical

• . Comparison of different methods for cadmium detection. Funding The authors would like to thank Director of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay for the support of atomic force microscopy under “Indian Nanoelectronics Users Program” and “Visvesvaraya Ph.D. Scheme for Electronics and IT” funded by the MeitY

High permittivity, breakdown strength, and energy storage density of polythiophene-encapsulated BaTiO₃ nanoparticles

• Adnanullah Khan,
• Amir Habib and
• Adeel Afzal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1190–1197, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.103

• microscopy (JEOL JSM 6490LA SEM) and atomic force microscopy (JSPM-5200 scanning probe microscope). Electrical properties of the bulk materials are measured under ambient conditions with a Wayne Kerr 6505B precision impedance analyzer and a Hipotronics HD103 3kV DC Hipot Tester. Results and Discussion

• studied using atomic force microscopy, after depositing the samples on quartz wafers. Figure 5 shows the 2D- and 3D-AFM images of BTO, BTO-PTh, and PTh samples along with their surface profiles. The micrographs of BTO nanoparticles show the presence of clusters on the surface. This is in agreement with

Extracting viscoelastic material parameters using an atomic force microscope and static force spectroscopy

• Cameron H. Parvini,
• M. A. S. R. Saadi and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 922–937, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.77

• Cameron H. Parvini M. A. S. R. Saadi Santiago D. Solares Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science, 800 22nd St. NW, Suite 3000, Washington, DC 20052, United States 10.3762/bjnano.11.77 Abstract Atomic force

• microscopy (AFM) techniques have provided and continue to provide increasingly important insights into surface morphology, mechanics, and other critical material characteristics at the nanoscale. One attractive implementation involves extracting meaningful material properties, which demands physically

• parameters such as storage modulus, loss modulus, loss angle, and compliance. These steps constitute a complete guide to leveraging AFM-SFS data to estimate key material parameters, with a series of detailed insights into both the methodology and supporting analytical choices. Keywords: atomic force

Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Christian Ritz,
• Tino Wagner and
• Andreas Stemmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 911–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.76

• Christian Ritz Tino Wagner Andreas Stemmer Nanotechnology Group, ETH Zürich, Säumerstrasse 4, 8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland present address: Zurich Instruments AG, Technoparkstrasse 1, 8005 Zürich, Switzerland 10.3762/bjnano.11.76 Abstract Kelvin probe force microscopy is a scanning probe

• an alternative approach to find the surface potential without lock-in detection. Our method operates directly on the frequency-shift signal measured in frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy and continuously estimates the electrostatic influence due to the applied voltage modulation. This

• , including the component arising from the bias modulation. This constitutes an important improvement over conventional techniques and paves the way for more reliable and accurate measurements of electrostatics and topography. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); electrostatic height error; extended

Band tail state related photoluminescence and photoresponse of ZnMgO solid solution nanostructured films

• Vadim Morari,
• Aida Pantazi,
• Nicolai Curmei,
• Vitalie Postolache,
• Emil V. Rusu,
• Marius Enachescu,
• Ion M. Tiginyanu and
• Veaceslav V. Ursaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 899–910, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.75

• the composition range x = 0.00–0.40 has been prepared by sol–gel spin coating on Si substrates with a post-deposition thermal treatment in the temperature range of 400–650 °C. The morphology of the films was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy while their light

• , and the deposition process lasted for 15 min. The morphology and chemical composition microanalysis of the produced films were studied using a Zeiss Sigma SEM, Hitachi SU 8230, equipped with tools for energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements were performed in

• unavoidable in the structure transformation process, in a certain interval of Mg concentrations. The phase segregation process was investigated in detail by means of X-ray diffraction, element-specific near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS), electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), atomic force

Three-dimensional solvation structure of ethanol on carbonate minerals

• Hagen Söngen,
• Ygor Morais Jaques,
• Peter Spijker,
• Christoph Marutschke,
• Stefanie Klassen,
• Ilka Hermes,
• Ralf Bechstein,
• Lidija Zivanovic,
• John Tracey,
• Adam S. Foster and
• Angelika Kühnle

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 891–898, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.74

• surfaces interact with a large variety of organic molecules, which can result in surface restructuring. This process is decisive for the formation of biominerals. With the development of 3D atomic force microscopy (AFM) it is now possible to image solid–liquid interfaces with unprecedented molecular

• -resolution 3D atomic force microscopy (AFM) [1], the hydration structure of many interfaces has been studied, including the aqueous interface of mica [2] calcite [3][4] dolomite [5][6] and organic crystals [7]. However, while the majority of 3D AFM works have concentrated on water, comparatively fewer

• nature. Experimental and Theoretical Methods Atomic force microscopy For the AFM experiments we used a modified commercial atomic force microscope [22] with custom photothermal cantilever excitation [23] and a custom three-dimensional scanning and data acquisition mode [24] in the frequency-modulation

Templating effect of single-layer graphene supported by an insulating substrate on the molecular orientation of lead phthalocyanine

• K. Priya Madhuri,
• Abhay A. Sagade,
• Pralay K. Santra and
• Neena S. John

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 814–820, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.66

• specific device applications. Keywords: conducting atomic force microscopy (C-AFM); lead phthalocyanine (PbPc); molecular orientation; single-layer graphene; substrate effect; two-dimensional grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (2D-GIXRD); Introduction Organic semiconductors have been extensively used in

• molecules with monoclinic and triclinic fractions on the surface of SLG/SiO2/Si is inferred in Figure 4. The topography of the PbPc layer was studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM, Figure 5). Figure 5a and the inset show that the film consists of granular PbPc crystallites deposited uniformly on the

• the highly delocalized macrocycles. The competing interfacial van der Waals forces and molecule–molecule interactions lead to the formation of a small fraction of triclinic moieties. The nanoscale electrical characterization of the thin PbPc layer on graphene by means of conducting atomic force

Quantitative determination of the interaction potential between two surfaces using frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy

• Nicholas Chan,
• Carrie Lin,
• Tevis Jacobs,
• Robert W. Carpick and
• Philip Egberts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 729–739, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.60

• frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy (AFM). Furthermore, this technique can be extended to the experimental verification of potential forms for any given material pair. Specifically, interaction forces are determined between an AFM tip apex and a nominally flat substrate using dynamic force

• separation distances. This methodology represents the first experimental technique in which material interaction potential parameters were verified over a range of tip–sample separation distances for a tip apex of arbitrary geometry. Keywords: adhesion; atomic force microscopy; diamond; frequency-modulated

• interactions necessitates characterization methods with angstrom-level precision. Therefore, techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) are often used to evaluate the performance of these surface modification approaches. The interpretation of lubrication and surface modification behavior via AFM

Stochastic excitation for high-resolution atomic force acoustic microscopy imaging: a system theory approach

• Edgar Cruz Valeriano,
• José Juan Gervacio Arciniega,
• Christian Iván Enriquez Flores,
• Susana Meraz Dávila,
• Joel Moreno Palmerin,
• Martín Adelaido Hernández Landaverde,
• Yuri Lizbeth Chipatecua Godoy,
• Aime Margarita Gutiérrez Peralta,
• Rafael Ramírez Bon and
• José Martín Yañez Limón

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 703–716, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.58

• –sample interaction is excited with a white-noise signal. Then, a fast Fourier transform is applied to the deflection signal that comes from the photodiodes of the atomic force microscopy (AFM) equipment. This approach allows for the measurement of several vibrational modes in a single step with high

• compared to conventional techniques. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; fast Fourier transform; mechanical properties; system theory; white noise; Introduction There are several methods to measure mechanical properties at the nanoscale level, based on, e.g., nanoindentation or on other physical phenomena

• [1][2]. However, each method has its limitations due to instrumentation capabilities and the geometry of the contact. Also, some of these methods can be destructive or provide only poor resolution because of the nanometric dimensions [1]. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a fundamental tool in

Structural optical and electrical properties of a transparent conductive ITO/Al–Ag/ITO multilayer contact

• Aliyu Kabiru Isiyaku,
• Ahmad Hadi Ali and
• Nafarizal Nayan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 695–702, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.57

• fraction of Sn is low because it is the dopant element in ITO. The low content of Al is attributed to the very thin layer. The EDXS spectra of the films before and after annealing are shown in Figure 2. The surface morphology of the IAAI and ITO films was studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM) of an

Comparison of fresh and aged lithium iron phosphate cathodes using a tailored electrochemical strain microscopy technique

• Matthias Simolka,
• Hanno Kaess and
• Kaspar Andreas Friedrich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 583–596, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.46

• , Institute of Building Energetics, Thermal Engineering and Energy Storage (IGTE), Pfaffenwaldring 31, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.11.46 Abstract Electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM) is a powerful atomic force microscopy (AFM) mode for the investigation of ion dynamics and activities in energy

• (FIB) SEM and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Another technique for post-mortem analysis is atomic force microscopy (AFM). In its basic form, it provides information on the topography of the sample. More advanced AFM modes extract in addition to the topography

• solid electrolyte interface (SEI) on graphite anodes and HOPG [14][15][16], Li metal [17] and on cathode materials [18][19] as well as the changes in particle size during ageing [19][20]. Other AFM modes used for the analysis of ageing are, for example, Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) and

Examination of the relationship between viscoelastic properties and the invasion of ovarian cancer cells by atomic force microscopy

• Mengdan Chen,
• Jinshu Zeng,
• Weiwei Ruan,
• Zhenghong Zhang,
• Yuhua Wang,
• Shusen Xie,
• Zhengchao Wang and
• Hongqin Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 568–582, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.45

• The mechanical properties of cells could serve as an indicator for disease progression and early cancer diagnosis. This study utilized atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure the viscoelastic properties of ovarian cancer cells and then examined the association with the invasion of ovarian cancer at

• light on the biomechanical changes for early diagnosis of tumor transformation and progression at single-cell level. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); cancer invasion; cancer migration; ovarian cancer cells; viscoelasticity; Introduction Ovarian cancer is a lethal gynecological malignancy with

• cells could be detected biomechanically. At present, a variety of research technologies, such as optical tweezers, micropipette aspiration, magnetic twisting cytometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM), have been developed to characterize the mechanical properties of biological samples [7][8][9][10

Multilayer capsules made of weak polyelectrolytes: a review on the preparation, functionalization and applications in drug delivery

• Varsha Sharma and
• Anandhakumar Sundaramurthy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 508–532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.41

• force [13] using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and reflection interference contrast microscopy (RICM). Fabrication conditions such as the type of polymer (e.g., thicker layers are formed by PEs having lower charge density) [14], concentration of the polymer

Current measurements in the intermittent-contact mode of atomic force microscopy using the Fourier method: a feasibility analysis

• Berkin Uluutku and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 453–465, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.37

• Berkin Uluutku Santiago D. Solares The George Washington University, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, 800 22nd St. NW, Suite 3000, Washington, DC 20052, USA 10.3762/bjnano.11.37 Abstract Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an important tool for measuring a variety of nanoscale

• significant instrumentation challenges are anticipated, the modelling results are promising and suggest that Fourier-based higher-harmonics current measurement may enable the development of a reliable intermittent-contact conductive AFM method. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); conductivity; current

• ; intermittent contact; Fourier analysis; tapping-mode AFM; Introduction Conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM), a contact-mode technique, has been extensively utilized to investigate local electrical properties of nanoscale systems, such as organic solar cells [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], semiconductors [8][9

Atomic-resolution imaging of rutile TiO₂(110)-(1 × 2) reconstructed surface by non-contact atomic force microscopy

• Daiki Katsube,
• Shoki Ojima,
• Eiichi Inami and
• Masayuki Abe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 443–449, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.35

• , because it cannot be clarified whether the (1 × 2) structure is formed over a wide area or only locally using macroscopic analysis methods such as diffraction. We used non-contact atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and low-energy electron diffraction at room temperature to

• force microscopy; (1 × 2) reconstruction; rutile; surface structure; titanium dioxide (TiO2); Introduction Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a well-known photocatalyst and has been studied for applications in water splitting and the coating of materials [1]. To optimize the photocatalytic function, it is

• clean surface is relatively easy. A well-known rutile TiO2(110) surface is the (1 × 1) structure [2]. The (1 × 1) surface has been studied using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) [3][4], surface X-ray diffraction [5], non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) [6][7][8][9], scanning tunneling

Electrochemically derived functionalized graphene for bulk production of hydrogen peroxide

• Munaiah Yeddala,
• Pallavi Thakur,
• Anugraha A and
• Tharangattu N. Narayanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 432–442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.34

• its layered nature (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S2). Here the thickness variation is confirmed using atomic force microscopy (AFM), and the results are given in Figure S3. This indicates that with an increase in the concentration of the electrolyte, the thickness is increased from 40 nm to

High dynamic resistance elements based on a Josephson junction array

• Konstantin Yu. Arutyunov and
• Janne S. Lehtinen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 417–420, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.32

• situ to form tunnel barriers. Each sample consisted of 25 pairs of JJs connected in parallel where the area of each superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) contact was about 100 × 100 nm (Figure 1). The samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Figure 1) and atomic force

• microscopy (AFM). Transport measurements were made inside a 3He4He dilution refrigerator at temperatures below 400 mK, corresponding to the superconducting transition of Ti QPSJs [10][12]. All input/output lines were carefully filtered [13] to reduce the impact of the noisy electromagnetic environment. When

Implementation of data-cube pump–probe KPFM on organic solar cells

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Olivier Bardagot and
• Renaud Demadrille

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 323–337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.24

• Benjamin Grevin Olivier Bardagot Renaud Demadrille Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CEA, IRIG-SyMMES, 38000 Grenoble, France 10.3762/bjnano.11.24 Abstract An implementation of pump–probe Kelvin probe force microscopy (pp-KPFM) is reported that enables recording the time-resolved surface potential in

• PTB7 and PC71BM is subsequently investigated by recording point-spectroscopy curves as a function of the optical power at the cathode and by mapping 2D time-resolved images of the surface photovoltage of the bare organic active layer. Keywords: bulk heterojunctions; Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM

• the development of new time-resolved extensions of electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). Time-resolved EFM (trEFM) has been used to map photoinduced charging rates (i.e., the time needed to reach an electrostatic equilibrium after illumination) in organic donor

Nonclassical dynamic modeling of nano/microparticles during nanomanipulation processes

• Moharam Habibnejad Korayem,
• Ali Asghar Farid and
• Rouzbeh Nouhi Hefzabad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 147–166, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.13

• , Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 10.3762/bjnano.11.13 Abstract Since the manipulation of particles using atomic force microscopy is not observable in real-time, modeling the manipulation process is of notable importance, enabling us to investigate the dynamical behavior

• of the classical method on polystyrene nanorods. The results for cylindrical gold nanoparticles indicate that the material length scale has a major effect on the exact positioning of cylindrical nanoparticles. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; modified couple stress theory; nanomanipulation

• ; nanoparticle modeling; size effects; Introduction It is not possible to simultaneously observe and manipulate a nanoparticle using atomic force microscopy (AFM) as the imaging and manipulation tools are combined. As a result, dynamic modeling and simulation are essential in this field of research. For the

A review of demodulation techniques for multifrequency atomic force microscopy

• David M. Harcombe,
• Michael G. Ruppert and
• Andrew J. Fleming

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 76–91, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.8

• multifrequency atomic force microscopy. The compared methods include the lock-in amplifier, coherent demodulator, Kalman filter, Lyapunov filter, and direct-design demodulator. Each method is implemented on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with a sampling rate of 1.5 MHz. The metrics for comparison include

• the sensitivity to other frequency components and the magnitude of demodulation artifacts for a range of demodulator bandwidths. Performance differences are demonstrated through higher harmonic atomic force microscopy imaging. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); multifrequency; demodulation

• ; Kalman filter; Lyapunov filter; digital signal processing; field-programmable gate array (FPGA); Introduction Atomic force microscopy (AFM) [1] has enabled innovation in nanoscale engineering since it was invented in 1986 by Binnig and co-workers. Atomic-scale topographical resolution is achieved by

Simple synthesis of nanosheets of rGO and nitrogenated rGO

• Pallellappa Chithaiah,
• Madhan Mohan Raju,
• Giridhar U. Kulkarni and
• C. N. R. Rao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 68–75, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.7

• force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). X-ray diffraction patterns of the samples were collected in the range of 10–70° (2θ) using a Bruker D8 diffractometer with a Cu Kα source (λ = 0.154178 nm). The morphology of the samples was examined using a Tescan

The effect of heat treatment on the morphology and mobility of Au nanoparticles

• Sven Oras,
• Sergei Vlassov,
• Simon Vigonski,
• Boris Polyakov,
• Mikk Antsov,
• Vahur Zadin,
• Rünno Lõhmus and
• Karine Mougin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 61–67, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.6

• particles became immovable again. This effect was attributed to the diffusion of Au into the Si substrate and to the growth of the SiO2 layer. Keywords: annealing; atomic force microscopy (AFM); Au nanoparticles; manipulation; melting; nanotribology; Introduction Gold is one of the most prominent

The different ways to chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanoparticles: templated vs direct complexation. Influence of particle preparation on morphology, cell uptake and silencing efficiency

• Arianna Gennari,
• Julio M. Rios de la Rosa,
• Erwin Hohn,
• Maria Pelliccia,
• Enrique Lallana,
• Roberto Donno,
• Annalisa Tirella and
• Nicola Tirelli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2594–2608, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.250

• Synergy2 Biotek plate reader. Atomic force microscopy (AFM). Drops (ca. 35 µL) of the chitosan/HA nanoparticle suspensions were deposited on a clean mica surface and left to dry overnight in Petri dishes at room temperature. A molecular force probe 3D AFM (MFP-3D, Asylum Research, Oxford Instruments

Evaluation of click chemistry microarrays for immunosensing of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)

• Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Dadfar,
• Sylwia Sekula-Neuner,
• Vanessa Trouillet,
• Hui-Yu Liu,
• Ravi Kumar,
• Annie K. Powell and
• Michael Hirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2505–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.241

• occurring in the spectra at 400.0 eV also result from the successful reactions. To confirm the quality of the functionalized layers, after each step of the functionalization process, the roughness of the samples was monitored by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results are shown in Supporting Information

• bare and functionalized glasses was characterized using surface-sensitive techniques, including atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). To map the surface roughness, AFM in tapping mode was conducted with a Dimension Icon (Bruker, Germany) device with HQ:NSC15/Al BS