Design, fabrication, and characterization of kinetic-inductive force sensors for scanning probe applications

• August K. Roos,
• Ermes Scarano,
• Elisabet K. Arvidsson,
• Erik Holmgren and
• David B. Haviland

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 242–255, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.23

• microscopy (SPM), the tip plays a fundamental role in the achievable lateral resolution of the image. The focused electron-beam induced deposition (FEBID) [34] technique has been adapted to fabricate tips for SPM, for example, to enhance commercial platinum–iridium alloy (Pt-Ir)-coated conductive tips [35

Graphene removal by water-assisted focused electron-beam-induced etching – unveiling the dose and dwell time impact on the etch profile and topographical changes in SiO₂ substrates

• Aleksandra Szkudlarek,
• Jan M. Michalik,
• Inés Serrano-Esparza,
• Zdeněk Nováček,
• Veronika Novotná,
• Piotr Ozga,
• Czesław Kapusta and
• José María De Teresa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 190–198, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.18

• communication devices. All those future technologies will require high-precision lithography techniques with excellent lateral resolution, high throughput, and minimized possibility of material damage. In the last decade, several approaches have been made to provide the most suitable method for patterning

• substrate, which contains a low amount of defects as described elsewhere [27]. In the first part of the present contribution, we demonstrate how the beam parameters and the dose affect the etched profiles and consequently the lateral resolution of water-assisted FEBIE of graphene. The Raman analysis

• confocal Raman Alpha 300 M+ from WITec, which combines a Raman spectrograph with a confocal microscope. A laser with a 532 nm wavelength, spot size of 1 μm, and power fixed at 1 mW was used to avoid sample heating. The confocal microscope gives a higher lateral resolution than conventional optical

Spatial variations of conductivity of self-assembled monolayers of dodecanethiol on Au/mica and Au/Si substrates

• Julian Skolaut,
• Jędrzej Tepper,
• Federica Galli,
• Wulf Wulfhekel and
• Jan M. van Ruitenbeek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1169–1177, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.97

• applied method uses conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM). In this technique, a conductive probe is used in an AFM, which allows for imaging the surface topography (and other characteristics such as adhesion and stiffness) with lateral resolution while simultaneously being able to measure current

• coating on a non-conductive probe in contrast to the CoCr-coated Si probes. This is at the cost of lateral resolution due to the larger radius of the probe apex. All measurements presented here were carried out in the Quantitative Imaging (QI™) mode by JPK. A sketch of the procedure is shown in Figure 1

Dual-heterodyne Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Fatima Husainy,
• Dmitry Aldakov and
• Cyril Aumaître

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1068–1084, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.88

• (in terms of lateral resolution and sensitivity, respectively). This mode takes advantage of heterodyning effects (frequency mixing) between the electrical bias modulation and the cantilever mechanical oscillation (usually performed at the first eigenmode, angular frequency ω0). These effects result

• dynamics (i.e., decay time-constant). In turn, this experiment confirms that DHe-KPFM allows an ac-demodulated imaging of the SPV (to within the K1 scalar constant) with a very high spatial resolution (a lateral resolution of a few nanometres has been achieved according to image cross-sections, not shown

Silver-based SERS substrates fabricated using a 3D printed microfluidic device

• Phommachith Sonexai,
• Minh Van Nguyen,
• Bui The Huy and
• Yong-Ill Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 793–803, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.65

• dimension to a scale smaller than a millimeter remains challenging [29]. In the second approach, 3D printing can replace photolithography to fabricate a mold. This approach can achieve a better lateral resolution of printed features down to 100 µm with a higher aspect ratio of the printed channel features

Cross-sectional Kelvin probe force microscopy on III–V epitaxial multilayer stacks: challenges and perspectives

• Mattia da Lisca,
• José Alvarez,
• James P. Connolly,
• Nicolas Vaissiere,
• Karim Mekhazni,
• Jean Decobert and
• Jean-Paul Kleider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 725–737, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.59

• ambient conditions, as revealed in the Results section (“KPFM cross-sectional investigation under dark conditions”). Even at extremely short tip–sample distances (5 nm), the tip-averaging effect can lower the lateral resolution as well as the measured KPFM signal [25]. This is especially evident in KPFM

Liquid phase exfoliation of talc: effect of the medium on flake size and shape

• Samuel M. Sousa,
• Helane L. O. Morais,
• Joyce C. C. Santos,
• Ana Paula M. Barboza,
• Bernardo R. A. Neves,
• Elisângela S. Pinto and
• Mariana C. Prado

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 68–78, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.8

• contact mode using commercial silicon probes (MikroMasch, HQ:NSC35/AlBs or HQ:NSC36/AlBs). For each sample, nine different 5 μm × 5 μm fields were chosen at random and scanned at 0.5 Hz with 500 pixels/line (lateral resolution of 10 nm/pixel). Image processing (line and plane corrections) and flake

Studies of probe tip materials by atomic force microscopy: a review

• Ke Xu and
• Yuzhe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1256–1267, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.104

• minimum radius of curvature of 3 nm with different applied bias pressures. The resulting gold nanowire probes are chemically inert and have a high lateral resolution. Such gold-functionalized tips can be applied to various spectroscopic and imaging techniques with nanoscale resolution, such as tip

A cantilever-based, ultrahigh-vacuum, low-temperature scanning probe instrument for multidimensional scanning force microscopy

• Hao Liu,
• Zuned Ahmed,
• Sasa Vranjkovic,
• Manfred Parschau,
• Andrada-Oana Mandru and
• Hans J. Hug

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1120–1140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.95

• Cantilever-based atomic force microscopy (AFM) performed under ambient conditions has become an important tool to characterize new material systems as well as devices. Current instruments permit robust scanning over large areas, atomic-scale lateral resolution, and the characterization of various sample

• measurement of small magnetic forces and for MFM with optimized lateral resolution. To obtain atomic resolution, cantilevers with a higher stiffness are required to meet the stability criteria: or where Fts is the tip–sample interaction force. From Equation 9, the cantilever stiffness must surpass the highest

Influence of water contamination on the sputtering of silicon with low-energy argon ions investigated by molecular dynamics simulations

• Grégoire R. N. Defoort-Levkov,
• Alan Bahm and
• Patrick Philipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 986–1003, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.86

• smaller spot sizes to reduce the thickness of the layer damaged by ion beams, and to increase the lateral resolution for precise machining and sample characterization. For most of these applications, the quality of the sample surface and its cleanliness are essential and, therefore, highly controlled

Comparing the performance of single and multifrequency Kelvin probe force microscopy techniques in air and water

• Jason I. Kilpatrick,
• Emrullah Kargin and
• Brian J. Rodriguez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 922–943, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.82

• ][97] and do not consider the contributions from the rest of the cantilever. This would generally lead to an under-reporting of the superior voltage sensitivity (at the cost of lateral resolution) of the purely electrical modes in this work. (2) We consider both air and water as linear lossless

Relationship between corrosion and nanoscale friction on a metallic glass

• Haoran Ma and
• Roland Bennewitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 236–244, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.18

• . Future studies can exploit the lateral resolution of scanning force microscopy to detect dissolution and precipitation on selected areas of interest such as different phases, grains, and inclusions [46]. Materials and Methods Zr63Ni22Ti15 (ZrNiTi) MG ribbons were produced by the single-roller melt

Two dynamic modes to streamline challenging atomic force microscopy measurements

• Alexei G. Temiryazev,
• Andrey V. Krayev and
• Marina P. Temiryazeva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1226–1236, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.90

• known that the lateral resolution of AFM images depends on the sharpness of the probe. A typical value of the radius of the tip curvature r is 10 nm. Specially made probes with carbon spikes have values of r about 2 nm [31][32]. Nevertheless, under certain conditions, for example, when measuring under

• of the probes used for scanning with high resolution. However, it should be emphasized that these advantages are fully realized on surfaces where, in principle, high lateral resolution is possible. This should be a relatively flat area without protrusions comparable in height to the curvature of the

• contamination of the probe while maintaining the ability to have high resolution [36]. Nevertheless, it should be noted that it is advisable to use the VDM only in those cases when it is really necessary, that is, when it is necessary to have a lateral resolution of a few nanometers. The vertical mode is more

Local stiffness and work function variations of hexagonal boron nitride on Cu(111)

• Abhishek Grewal,
• Yuqi Wang,
• Matthias Münks,
• Klaus Kern and
• Markus Ternes

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 559–565, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.46

• , however, we find a significantly smaller average difference between valley and rim regions of only ΔΦ = 86 ± 16 meV when analysing the contact potential difference (CPD) data. This hints toward a lower lateral resolution of the KPFM measurement compared to the FER map. The Δf signal in KPFM originates

The nanomorphology of cell surfaces of adhered osteoblasts

• Christian Voelkner,
• Mirco Wendt,
• Regina Lange,
• Max Ulbrich,
• Martina Gruening,
• Susanne Staehlke,
• Barbara Nebe,
• Ingo Barke and
• Sylvia Speller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 242–256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.20

• nanomorphologies of osteoblast-like cells (MG-63) adhered on glass and amine-functionalized surfaces in live and fixed states. Note that by “nanomorphology” we refer to structures laterally not smaller than ca. 50 nm, since the lateral resolution is limited by the opening of the nanopipette. Our studies address

Scanning transmission helium ion microscopy on carbon nanomembranes

• Daniel Emmrich,
• Annalena Wolff,
• Nikolaus Meyerbröker,
• Jörg K. N. Lindner,
• André Beyer and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 222–231, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.18

• -characterized material. XPS collects the signal from a measurement spot with a diameter of a few hundred micrometers. It has, therefore, a much lower lateral resolution than STIM. It requires the membrane to be placed on a solid bulk material. Therefore, from the same membrane batch used for STIM measurements

• and 12.0 nm measured by STIM (Table 1). As a second method for comparison, EFTEM was performed on the samples after STIM measurements. EFTEM enables thickness mapping with a high lateral resolution. In EFTEM, elastically scattered electrons in a zero-loss energy-filtered image are compared to the

Bulk chemical composition contrast from attractive forces in AFM force spectroscopy

• Dorothee Silbernagl,
• Media Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani,
• Natalia Cano Murillo,
• Anna Maria Elert and
• Heinz Sturm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 58–71, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.5

• –distance curve (FDC) method is the most fundamental force spectroscopy experimental setup which yields local mechanical properties with a lateral resolution between 500 nm and 1 µm [1][2][3]. Recent developments have aimed to increase the lateral resolution of force spectroscopy by implementing dynamic

• , AFM topography is often not conclusive. To overcome these disadvantages, complementary measurements are performed. Methods such as SEM and EDX are able to image structural contrasts with a lateral resolution on the order of magnitude of the AFM tip size or higher [16][17][18][19]. However, since those

• to a decrease in the lateral resolution compared to other AFM methods, such as tapping [28]. ncAFM is a more universal applicable method since it is carried out over the whole regime of attractive forces: It is sensitive to electrostatic forces (long range, >30 nm), van der Waals forces (intermediate

Bio-imaging with the helium-ion microscope: A review

• Matthias Schmidt,
• James M. Byrne and
• Ilari J. Maasilta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1–23, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.1

• opportunity for further developments. On the one hand, it is as flexible and straightforward to use as a scanning electron microscope (SEM) but with a five times larger depth of field [1] and a lateral resolution of about 0.5 nm [4] (demonstrated record: 0.24 nm [5]), which is between high-end field-emission

• HIM this is realised by the atomic level (or gas field) ion source, which, in essence, is a single tungsten atom at which the gas atoms are ionised [1][39]. The column optics projects an image of that atom onto the sample, which commonly is referred to as “beam spot”. The achievable lateral resolution

• demonstrated lateral resolution of 0.24 nm [5]. Such a high resolution is possible because of the relatively small amount of energy which is transferred from the helium ion to the secondary electron. Employing the formula for a central elastic collision, a 25 keV helium ion transfers as little as 13.7 eV to

Scanning transmission imaging in the helium ion microscope using a microchannel plate with a delay line detector

• Eduardo Serralta,
• Nico Klingner,
• Olivier De Castro,
• Michael Mousley,
• Santhana Eswara,
• Serge Duarte Pinto,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Gregor Hlawacek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1854–1864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.167

• studied by detecting the light emitted from the sample during ion bombardment [8][9][10]. Moreover, compositional analyses using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) can be performed in the HIM with a lateral resolution of the order of 10 nm [11][12][13][14]. Transmission-mode imaging can further

• column, such as the helium ion microscope or other light ion beam methods with high lateral resolution. The system is based on the combination of MCPs and a delay line detector mounted on a movable support so that the experiment geometry can be optimized. The used imaging detector is capable of a random

Imaging and milling resolution of light ion beams from helium ion microscopy and FIBs driven by liquid metal alloy ion sources

• Nico Klingner,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Paul Mazarov,
• Wolfgang Pilz,
• Fabian Meyer and
• Lothar Bischoff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1742–1749, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.156

• the instrument itself. While GFIS-driven noble gas beams still deliver the best lateral resolution, LMAISs allow for a wider application spectrum due to the vast number of different ion species and charge states available. Especially for very light ions, such as Li, LMAIS FIBs provide nearly the same

Out-of-plane surface patterning by subsurface processing of polymer substrates with focused ion beams

• Serguei Chiriaev,
• Luciana Tavares,
• Vadzim Adashkevich,
• Arkadiusz J. Goszczak and
• Horst-Günter Rubahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1693–1703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.151

• direct, maskless surface patterning with a superior lateral resolution and depth control [2][3]. The portfolio of the currently used FIB-based and FIB-assisted surface patterning techniques includes a number of different methods, such as ion-beam sputtering of surface layers (ion-beam milling), ion-beam

Helium ion microscope – secondary ion mass spectrometry for geological materials

• Matthew R. Ball,
• Richard J. M. Taylor,
• Joshua F. Einsle,
• Fouzia Khanom,
• Christelle Guillermier and
• Richard J. Harrison

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1504–1515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.133

• , appropriate data processing techniques can extract data with meaningful counting statistics for elemental and isotopic analysis, although this processing does have consequences, for example, it can reduce the lateral resolution significantly. One method for increasing count rates is to regrid data

• resolution offered by HIM–SIMS. Another method is to sum counts over individual regions of the data, maintaining the lateral resolution of the data, but increasing the count rates under the assumption that different regions have roughly homogenous concentrations of an element or isotope ratios. In the case

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

• SEM in terms of lateral resolution, depth of field, surface sensitivity, and ability to image electrically insulating samples [13]. Furthermore, nanoscale structuration with noble gas ions can yield sub-10 nm structures without unwanted metal ion implantation, a sizeable advantage over traditional

• gallium-ion FIBs. The resulting combined AFM–HIM instrument would, therefore, profit from the sub-nanometer lateral resolution of the HIM and the atomic resolution in the vertical axis of the AFM, proving particularly powerful for high-resolution correlative characterization of non-conductive samples

• do have very different strengths. The HIM, for example, has a very good lateral resolution and a large depth of field, which makes it well suited for imaging high aspect ratio structures. The Z-resolution of the method, however, is less accurate, since the height of objects has to be reconstructed

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

• investigated in a combined X-ray reflectivity and MD study [15]. As a result, ethanol was found to form layers above the calcite surface. However, due to the lack of lateral resolution in the X-ray reflectivity measurements, no experimental information on the lateral order within the first layer has been

Atomic force acoustic microscopy reveals the influence of substrate stiffness and topography on cell behavior

• Yan Liu,
• Li Li,
• Xing Chen,
• Ying Wang,
• Meng-Nan Liu,
• Jin Yan,
• Liang Cao,
• Lu Wang and
• Zuo-Bin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2329–2337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.223

• able to characterize materials at high lateral resolution. To produce substrates of tunable stiffness and topography, we imprint nanostripe patterns on undeveloped and developed SU-8 photoresist films using electron-beam lithography (EBL). Elastic deformations of the substrate surfaces and the cells