Graphene on SiC(0001) inspected by dynamic atomic force microscopy at room temperature

• Mykola Telychko,
• Jan Berger,
• Zsolt Majzik,
• Pavel Jelínek and
• Martin Švec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 901–906, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.93

• specifically chosen for the conditions when the graphene contrast provided by the Δf is not giving atomic resolution in the attractive regime. Kelvin probe force measurements (KPFM) were also done in the constant-height mode, with a slow feedback between the measurement points, to compensate the tilt of the

• graphene honeycomb structure modulated by the q-6 periodicity. The Δf signal shows the honeycomb structure and the q-6 modulation as well. In this case, the slow feedback control of the tip–sample distance allows us to stay in the repulsive regime, achieving atomic resolution. This would be otherwise

Stick–slip behaviour on Au(111) with adsorption of copper and sulfate

• Nikolay Podgaynyy,
• Sabine Wezisla,
• Christoph Molls,
• Shahid Iqbal and
• Helmut Baltruschat

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 820–830, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.85

• ; Introduction Atomic-scale friction processes constitute a fascinating field of research which has been opened by the invention of the atomic force microscope (AFM) [1]. The AFM allows us to determine the force necessary to move a cantilever tip laterally across the surface with atomic resolution. A theoretical

• be obtained for this adlayer [12] Labuda et al. [16] found that atomic resolution on gold is most easily achieved at the potential of zero charge (pzc). They observed "blurred" resolution at higher potential where oxygen starts being adsorbed. Hausen et al. observed a stick–slip periodicity equal to

• (111) in 0.05 M sulfuric acid solution + 1 mM CuSO4 the pzc is 0.22 V vs Cu/Cu2+ [20]. Labuda et al. [21] obtained atomic resolution of a copper sub-monolayer on gold(111) in perchloric acid solution. They found an increase in friction force after metal adsorption as compared to a clean gold surface

Chains of carbon atoms: A vision or a new nanomaterial?

• Florian Banhart

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 559–569, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.58

• difficulties in their synthesis and characterization. It is clear that only techniques allowing imaging with atomic resolution would give reliable information about the existence of carbon chains. A few years ago, the first electron microscopy images of carbon chains appeared [20][21][22]. This gave the field

• scatterers), the vibration of the chain under the electron beam makes atomic resolution difficult. Therefore, the atoms in a chain could not be counted reliably until now; the measurement of the bond length and the question whether cumulene or polyyne has been observed is still unanswered although some

Influence of size, shape and core–shell interface on surface plasmon resonance in Ag and Ag@MgO nanoparticle films deposited on Si/SiO_x

• Sergio D’Addato,
• Daniele Pinotti,
• Maria Chiara Spadaro,
• Guido Paolicelli,
• Vincenzo Grillo,
• Sergio Valeri,
• Luca Pasquali,
• Luca Bergamini and
• Stefano Corni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 404–413, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.40

• caused by diffusion on the surface and agglomeration. Atomic resolution TEM gave evidence of the presence of crystalline multidomains in the NPs, which were due to aggregation and multitwinning occurring during NP growth in the nanocluster source. Co-deposition of Ag NPs and Mg atoms in an oxygen

• ][30][31]. Figure 2b shows an atomic resolution TEM image of a single NP. The image corresponds to a McKay icosahedral geometry, where the icosahedron is assembled from single crystal tetrahedra with (111) faces [28][32] (see Figure 2c). This type of structure, as previously observed in other fcc metal

Accurate, explicit formulae for higher harmonic force spectroscopy by frequency modulation-AFM

• Kfir Kuchuk and
• Uri Sivan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 149–156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.14

• reconstruct short range forces more accurately than the fundamental harmonic when the oscillation amplitude is small compared with the interaction range. Keywords: atomic force spectroscopy; higher harmonic FM-AFM; Introduction AFM measurements are presently utilized to generate atomic resolution [1][2], 3D

Dissipation signals due to lateral tip oscillations in FM-AFM

• Michael Klocke and
• Dietrich E. Wolf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2048–2057, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.213

• oscillation. Energy loss of the oscillation occurs not only due to mechanical damping of the cantilever, but also due to interaction between tip and surface, so that the damping signal can be used for imaging, even with atomic resolution [4]. There is a broad consensus, that the observed dissipation is due to

• dissipation rates of the same order of magnitude. The strength of the dissipation depends on the absolute value of the lateral forces. One, therefore, expects high dissipation rates at step edges. If atomic resolution is achieved, this dissipation mechanism would show two maxima accompanying one maximum in

Probing the electronic transport on the reconstructed Au/Ge(001) surface

• Franciszek Krok,
• Mark R. Kaspers,
• Alexander M. Bernhart,
• Marek Nikiel,
• Benedykt R. Jany,
• Paulina Indyka,
• Mateusz Wojtaszek,
• Rolf Möller and
• Christian A. Bobisch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1463–1471, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.159

• . The mechanical stability and performance of the commercial STM setup was improved in order to provide atomic resolution, e.g., on the Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface or the Bi(111) surface [12]. During the scanning tunnelling potentiometry (STP) experiments, two tips contact the surface and drive a lateral

• observations show that the excess amount of Au forms clusters of [110]-orientation, in agreement to previous STM studies of the same system by Wang et al. [20]. Also, HRTEM images with atomic resolution show that the Au clusters are crystalline. Apart from that, in Figure 4a, a thin layer exhibiting the

Synthesis, characterization, and growth simulations of Cu–Pt bimetallic nanoclusters

• Subarna Khanal,
• Ana Spitale,
• Nabraj Bhattarai,
• Daniel Bahena,
• J. Jesus Velazquez-Salazar,
• Sergio Mejía-Rosales,
• Marcelo M. Mariscal and
• Miguel José-Yacaman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1371–1379, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.150

• bimetallic particles, under the assumption that the height of the atomic columns is fairly uniform, or that the differences in height are known, since the intensity signal depends strongly on the atomic number (Z). Figure 4a shows an atomic resolution STEM image of a Cu–Pt bimetallic nanoparticle oriented

Surface topography and contact mechanics of dry and wet human skin

• Alexander E. Kovalev,
• Kirstin Dening,
• Bo N. J. Persson and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1341–1348, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.147

• can be achieved only with an instrument having atomic resolution, such as AFM. Measurements based on the standard microscopy techniques, such as white light interferometry) have a resolution limited by the wavelength of the used light. Therefore, regions smaller than some fraction of the wavelength of

Growth and characterization of CNT–TiO₂ heterostructures

• Yucheng Zhang,
• Ivo Utke,
• Johann Michler,
• Gabriele Ilari,
• Marta D. Rossell and
• Rolf Erni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 946–955, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.108

• nanomaterials To fundamentally understand the interface between CNTs and metal/metal oxides on the nanometer or even on the atomic level, TEM plays an irreplaceable role due to its high spatial resolution. With the development of spherical aberration correctors, atomic-resolution imaging at a sub-0.5 Å level

• (EDX) analysis. The core-shell excitation process is localized around the atoms, and hence atomic-resolution chemical mappings can be achieved by using EELS core-loss signals combined with a sub-nanometer sized electron probe [43][44][45][46][47]. For example, by using EELS at a low acceleration

• illustration of the principle in STEM-EELS: (a) the microscope configuration in the STEM mode; (b) the inelastic scattering processes in the TEM sample contributing to the low-loss and the core-loss EELS signals; (c) an atomic-resolution STEM-HAADF image of a GaN–Ge interface; (d) a EELS core-loss spectrum

Calibration of quartz tuning fork spring constants for non-contact atomic force microscopy: direct mechanical measurements and simulations

• Jens Falter,
• Marvin Stiefermann,
• Gernot Langewisch,
• Philipp Schurig,
• Hendrik Hölscher,
• Harald Fuchs and
• André Schirmeisen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 507–516, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.59

• ) allows the imaging of surfaces with true atomic resolution and the resolution of intra-molecular structures of molecules [1]. Furthermore, the non-contact AFM (nc-AFM) technique has the capability of quantifying the interaction forces acting between the probing tip and the sample site with atomic

Impact of thermal frequency drift on highest precision force microscopy using quartz-based force sensors at low temperatures

• Florian Pielmeier,
• Daniel Meuer,
• Daniel Schmid,
• Christoph Strunk and
• Franz J. Giessibl

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 407–412, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.48

• signal-to-noise ratio of quartz sensors, which showed that deflection detector noise decreases with decreasing beam thickness t [7]. While reducing simply t would lead to a decrease in k as well, the length L was also decreased to keep k in the optimal stiffness range for atomic resolution imaging [29

Uncertainties in forces extracted from non-contact atomic force microscopy measurements by fitting of long-range background forces

• Adam Sweetman and
• Andrew Stannard

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 386–393, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.45

• extrapolation method. Keywords: background subtraction; DFM; F(z); force; atomic resolution; NC-AFM; Si(111); STM; van der Waals; Introduction Non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) is now the tool of choice for surface scientists wishing to investigate interatomic and intermolecular forces on surfaces

• force between the very apex of the tip and the surface. In any atomic resolution experiment using a scanning probe, atomic contrast must arise from an interaction that decays on a distance comparable to the interatomic spacing, otherwise atomic resolution would not be readily obtained. Consequently, the

• interactions. Results Figure 1A shows a constant Δf image of a C60 molecule adsorbed on the Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface. In order to obtain atomic resolution on the substrate, and image the molecule without perturbing it [15][22], the setpoint was changed halfway up the image (see figure caption). In this instance

Noncontact atomic force microscopy II

• Mehmet Z. Baykara and
• Udo D. Schwarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 289–290, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.31

• (STM). While it is possible to obtain atomic-resolution images of material surfaces by using STM with relative ease, its basic operational principle depends on the phenomenon of quantum tunneling, rendering the technique applicable only to conductive and semi-conductive samples. The atomic force

• , the operation of the AFM in its traditional form requires the establishment of a permanent – albeit light – contact between the probe tip and the sample surface, leading to a finite contact area, which prevents true atomic-resolution imaging. True atomic resolution imaging through AFM was finally

• the sample surface to be investigated. Since actual contact with the sample is avoided, the probe tip retains its sharpness and atomic-resolution images may be obtained. Since its introduction two decades ago, NC-AFM has indeed been used to image a large number of conducting, semi-conducting, and

Structural development and energy dissipation in simulated silicon apices

• Samuel Paul Jarvis,
• Lev Kantorovich and
• Philip Moriarty

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 941–948, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.106

• turn leads to the observed hysteresis. This theoretical result is very similar to experimental observations on the Si(100) surface that recorded a dissipation of up to 0.5 eV/cycle [40] for a tip that demonstrated a “dimer-tip”-type atomic resolution [44]. It has also been shown [34] that very large

• term D2a. A simple examination of the electron density plot reveals that the tip structure maintains a single prominent dangling bond orbital at its apex, which in principle should produce atomic resolution that is not significantly different from that to be expected from the initial tip structure

• produce double-lobed surface features, doubling effects, or even fail to produce a well separated, understandable signal altogether. Such observations would depend on the surface under study, and on the separation of the surface atoms, which can be a particularly challenging problem when obtaining atomic

Adsorption of the ionic liquid [BMP][TFSA] on Au(111) and Ag(111): substrate effects on the structure formation investigated by STM

• Benedikt Uhl,
• Florian Buchner,
• Dorothea Alwast,
• Nadja Wagner and
• R. Jürgen Behm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 903–918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.102

• structure also follows the threefold geometry of the Ag(111) surface. Due to experimental reasons (adlayer imaging requires a large tunnel resistance while atomic resolution require low tunnel resistances) it was not possible to achieve atomic resolution of the surface near a boundary of a 2D crystalline

Ni nanocrystals on HOPG(0001): A scanning tunnelling microscope study

• Michael Marz,
• Keisuke Sagisaka and
• Daisuke Fujita

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 406–417, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.48

• nA), the inset shows atomic resolution (V = 0.3 V; I = 0.5 nA). (b–h) Evaporated Ni clusters on HOPG (V = 1 V; I = 0.2 nA). Evaporation parameters: (b) flux ≈50 nA, time = 30 s → Πf × t = 1.5 μAs; (c) ≈15 nA, 300 s, 4.5 μAs; (d) ≈100 nA, 50 s, 5.0 μAs; (e) ≈50 nA, 180 s, 9.0 μAs; (f) ≈100 nA, 100 s

Optimal geometry for a quartz multipurpose SPM sensor

• Julian Stirling

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 370–376, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.43

• atomic-resolution imaging the effective spring constant of the excited eigenmode should be low [13]. However, as the spring constant normal to the surface lowers, the risk of the probe snapping to contact with the surface increases. This produces a problem for combined AFM/LFM using the principal and

High-resolution dynamic atomic force microscopy in liquids with different feedback architectures

• John Melcher,
• David Martínez-Martín,
• Miriam Jaafar,
• Julio Gómez-Herrero and
• Arvind Raman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 153–163, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.15

• Materia Condensada C-III, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain School of Mechanical Engineering and Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 10.3762/bjnano.4.15 Abstract The recent achievement of atomic resolution with dynamic atomic force microscopy (dAFM

• forces can be remarkable similar. Furthermore, the reduction in noncontact forces and quality factors in liquids diminishes the role of feedback control in achieving high-resolution images. The theoretical findings are supported by atomic-resolution images of mica in water acquired with AM, FM and DAM

• interrogating samples ranging from stiff inorganic materials to soft biological samples, with nanoscale resolution. Recently, the achievement of atomic-resolution imaging in liquids [2][3][4][5][6] has challenged the accepted belief that high quality factors, which are a hallmark of microcantilever probes in

Thermal noise limit for ultra-high vacuum noncontact atomic force microscopy

• Jannis Lübbe,
• Matthias Temmen,
• Sebastian Rode,
• Philipp Rahe,
• Angelika Kühnle and
• Michael Reichling

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 32–44, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.4

• excellent demonstration of the potential of small amplitudes for atomic resolution measurements as it is known that the atomic contrast increases with reduced cantilever oscillation amplitude [11][14]. For a measurement with B−3dB = 385 Hz (red line, fc = 1 kHz, o = 5), one would choose an amplitude of 5 nm

Characterization of the mechanical properties of qPlus sensors

• Jan Berger,
• Martin Švec,
• Martin Müller,
• Martin Ledinský,
• Antonín Fejfar,
• Pavel Jelínek and
• Zsolt Majzik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 1–9, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.1

• , including biology, chemistry and physics. In particular, noncontact atomic force microscopy [3] (nc-AFM) has developed into a powerful technique for imaging with true atomic resolution [4][5], chemical sensitivity [6][7][8] or for performing single atom manipulation [9][10][11] on all types of surfaces

• simultaneous STM and AFM signals with atomic resolution on a metal surface [14]. At the same time F. J. Giessibl introduced so-called qPlus sensors [15], which allow simultaneous acquisition of the tunneling current and the forces with a small oscillation amplitude. This method increases substantially the

Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques

• Thilo Glatzel,
• Hendrik Hölscher,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Mehmet Z. Baykara,
• Udo D. Schwarz and
• Ricardo Garcia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 893–894, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.99

• introduced in the 19th century, the invention of the atomic force microscope (AFM) in 1986 by Binnig, Quate, and Gerber was a milestone for nanotechnology. The scanning tunneling microscope (STM), introduced some years earlier, had already achieved atomic resolution, but is limited to conductive surfaces

• resolution was first achieved in the 1990s. The most convincing results, however, were restricted to the so-called noncontact mode in vacuum for a long time, but recent technical developments overcame this limitation, and atomic-resolution imaging is now also a standard in liquids. Beyond pushing the

• . Since its operational principle is based on the detection of the forces acting between tip and sample, this restriction does not exist for the AFM. Consequently, atomic force microscopy quickly became the standard tool for nanometer-scale imaging of all types of surfaces in all environments. True atomic

Towards atomic resolution in sodium titanate nanotubes using near-edge X-ray-absorption fine-structure spectromicroscopy combined with multichannel multiple-scattering calculations

• Carla Bittencourt,
• Peter Krüger,
• Maureen J. Lagos,
• Xiaoxing Ke,
• Gustaaf Van Tendeloo,
• Chris Ewels,
• Polona Umek and
• Peter Guttmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 789–797, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.88

Probing three-dimensional surface force fields with atomic resolution: Measurement strategies, limitations, and artifact reduction

• Mehmet Z. Baykara,
• Omur E. Dagdeviren,
• Todd C. Schwendemann,
• Harry Mönig,
• Eric I. Altman and
• Udo D. Schwarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 637–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.73

• interpretation. In this paper, we analyze their impact on the acquired data, compare different methods to record atomic-resolution surface force fields, and determine the approaches that suffer the least from the associated artifacts. The related discussion underscores the idea that since force fields recorded

• fields, including catalysis, thin-film growth, nanoscale device fabrication, and tribology, among others [1]. Shortly after the first atomic-resolution images of surfaces were obtained by noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) [2][3], the method of dynamic force spectroscopy (DFS) was introduced

• for a certain amount of time after the recording of each curve/image during data acquisition, helps to reduce the influence of creep on the measured data further. If atomic resolution is achieved, apparent lattice distortions may be corrected after acquisition has been completed by using the known

Nanostructures for sensors, electronics, energy and environment

• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 351–352, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.40

• these incredible aggregation forms of materials with atomic resolution is mainly due to the developments in scanning probe microscopy [6][7] that have occurred over the last 20 years. The Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology recently hosted the series “Scanning probe microscopy and related methods