Energy dissipation in multifrequency atomic force microscopy

• Valentina Pukhova,
• Francesco Banfi and
• Gabriele Ferrini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 494–500, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.57

• ; wavelet transforms; Introduction Multifrequency dynamic atomic force microscopy [1] is a powerful technique to retrieve quantitative information on materials properties such as the elastic constants and the sample chemical environment with a lateral resolution in the nanometer range. In this context the

Constant-distance mode SECM as a tool to visualize local electrocatalytic activity of oxygen reduction catalysts

• Michaela Nebel,
• Thomas Erichsen and
• Wolfgang Schuhmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 141–151, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.14

• [29][30]. The current measurement is performed at the tip and a further increase of the lateral resolution by utilization of smaller electrodes is therefore possible [29]. In order to enable a precise positioning of small electrodes also for the RC mode, the detection scheme was integrated in the 4D

Noise performance of frequency modulation Kelvin force microscopy

• Heinrich Diesinger,
• Dominique Deresmes and
• Thierry Mélin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1–18, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.1

• favorable to minimize the tip–sample distance since it deteriorates the lateral resolution. Setpoint Δf and Vmod should be chosen such that the topography feedback is still dominated by van-der-Waals interaction. However, the tip–sample separation cannot be made infinitely small by hardening the topography

Peak forces and lateral resolution in amplitude modulation force microscopy in liquid

• Horacio V. Guzman and
• Ricardo Garcia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 852–859, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.96

• elastic deformation of the sample as a function of the imaging conditions for materials with a Young modulus between 25 MPa and 2 GPa. High lateral resolution images are predicted by using both small free amplitudes (less than 2 nm for soft materials) and high set-point amplitudes. Keywords: force

• microscopy; lateral resolution; nanomechanics; peak force; Introduction The high-resolution imaging of heterogeneous materials, in particular soft materials in liquid, by amplitude modulation atomic force microscopy (AM-AFM) is an active area of research in nanotechnology [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11

• oscillation cycle. In fact, the ability of exerting small forces and imaging materials in a non-invasive manner can be jeopardized because of the effect of a static deflection component when Asp/A0 decreases. We have also studied the relationship among peak forces, lateral resolution and sample properties for

Dynamic nanoindentation by instrumented nanoindentation and force microscopy: a comparative review

• Sidney R. Cohen and
• Estelle Kalfon-Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 815–833, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.93

• should always recall that the simplified or even complex mechanical models are describing a substantially more complex molecular system. Dynamic AFM probe nanoindentation Boasting the advantage of wider bandwidth, smaller inertia of the system, better lateral resolution and more sensitive force detection

Site-selective growth of surface-anchored metal-organic frameworks on self-assembled monolayer patterns prepared by AFM nanografting

• Tatjana Ladnorg,
• Alexander Welle,
• Stefan Heißler,
• Christof Wöll and
• Hartmut Gliemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 638–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.71

• m/z 371 (Figure 4c) and the Au cluster ion of MPA [Au2SC3H5O2]− at m/z 499 (Figure 4d) were detected as characteristic peaks. While this spectrometry mode allows for an unambiguous chemical assignment, the lateral resolution of the analysis is limited due to a primary ion beam spot diameter of

• mass resolution secondary ion spectra with a moderate spot size of about 5 mm (bunched mode). Spectrometry was performed in static SIMS mode by limiting the primary ion dose to <1011 ions/cm2. High lateral resolution images were acquired in a primary ion source mode providing a lateral resolution of

Kelvin probe force microscopy of nanocrystalline TiO₂ photoelectrodes

• Alex Henning,
• Gino Günzburger,
• Res Jöhr,
• Yossi Rosenwaks,
• Biljana Bozic-Weber,
• Catherine E. Housecroft,
• Edwin C. Constable,
• Ernst Meyer and
• Thilo Glatzel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 418–428, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.49

• parameters, in particular the bandgap, Eg, the minority carrier diffusion length, Ln, and the flatband potential, Vfb [18]. SPV spectroscopy is usually performed with a macroscopic vibrating capacitor and is hence limited by its poor lateral resolution [19][20]. Bare and dye-sensitized nanocrystalline (nc

• using KPFM, which is not possible to achieve with a macroscopic KP. SPV spectra were taken on desired locations with a lateral resolution of 25 nm. Thus, the bandgap and time constants were obtained on the nanoscale. In this work, microscopic variations of the work function were observed for both

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

• . Nevertheless, the change in lateral resolution has no impact on the determination of the height of the cluster and for counting the number of clusters on the surface. We notice that the height is more affected than the width of the cluster by the annealing process. To discuss the effect of annealing on the

A highly pH-sensitive nanowire field-effect transistor based on silicon on insulator

• Denis E. Presnov,
• Sergey V. Amitonov,
• Pavel A. Krutitskii,
• Valentina V. Kolybasova,
• Igor A. Devyatov,
• Vladimir A. Krupenin and
• Igor I. Soloviev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 330–335, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.38

• conventional FET and nanomechanical systems. This extremely high sensitivity gives an opportunity to construct local potential probes with nanoscale lateral resolution based on NW FET. In comparison with single-electron transistors [6], it is easy to fabricate a device operating at room temperature, which can

Bimodal atomic force microscopy driving the higher eigenmode in frequency-modulation mode: Implementation, advantages, disadvantages and comparison to the open-loop case

• Daniel Ebeling and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 198–207, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.20

• note that the 2nd mode phase and frequency-shift images reveal a significantly improved lateral resolution in comparison to the height channels. Especially at locations where DNA strands lay close to each other the height contrast becomes ambiguous, not allowing for an identification of single strands

Functionalization of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes

• Eloise Van Hooijdonk,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Rony Snyders and
• Jean-François Colomer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 129–152, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.14

• aligned nanotubes can be obtained by using substrates patterned with catalyst dots. High lateral resolution in the patterning of the substrate for site-selective growth of VA-CNTs can be achieved by photolithography with the use of high-contrast films as photomasks with features on the microscale [55][56

Reversible mechano-electrochemical writing of metallic nanostructures with the tip of an atomic force microscope

• Christian Obermair,
• Marina Kress,
• Andreas Wagner and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 824–830, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.92

• with the tip of an AFM [12]. In the semiconductor industry, mechano-electrochemical processes are frequently used in the form of mechano-electrochemical polishing. While this is only a macroscopic method with very poor lateral resolution, the tip of an AFM allows the site-selective control of

Polymer blend lithography: A versatile method to fabricate nanopatterned self-assembled monolayers

• Cheng Huang,
• Markus Moosmann,
• Jiehong Jin,
• Tobias Heiler,
• Stefan Walheim and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 620–628, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.71

• -force-microscopy-based lithographic techniques allow the structuring and patterning of surfaces with a lateral resolution down to the nanometer scale [24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. The advantage of techniques such as electron beam lithography or SFM-based lithography is their high lateral resolution and

Focused electron beam induced deposition: A perspective

• Michael Huth,
• Fabrizio Porrati,
• Christian Schwalb,
• Marcel Winhold,
• Roland Sachser,
• Maja Dukic,
• Jonathan Adams and
• Georg Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 597–619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.70

• large, the focal area diameter of the electron beam, convoluted by the surface-leaving secondary electrons, determines the lateral resolution of this method. Resolutions better than 3 nm in SEMs [1] and even below 1 nm in TEMs [2] have been shown to be feasible. Due to this excellent resolution, FEBID

Imaging ultra thin layers with helium ion microscopy: Utilizing the channeling contrast mechanism

• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Vasilisa Veligura,
• Stefan Lorbek,
• Tijs F. Mocking,
• Antony George,
• Raoul van Gastel,
• Harold J. W. Zandvliet and
• Bene Poelsema

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 507–512, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.58

• build-up in the irradiated sample area [5]. Contrast in SE images is primarily based on differences in work function and the yield of SE generation in the region near the surface [6]. As a consequence, HIM has an unprecedented surface sensitivity in SE mode. Together with the high lateral resolution

• of SEs in carbon is 1 nm [6]. The high contrast between the different patches, and the high lateral resolution, are a result of this characteristic of the SEs in HIM. All the SEs contributing to the different contrast patches are generated under identical conditions, nearly exclusively within a thin

• are dominated by the ions stopped deep in the sample, a comparable relative change will occur closer to the surface for the helium particles that will eventually be backscattered. This will have a negative influence on the lateral resolution that can be achieved in BSHe images. SE images will not be

Mapping mechanical properties of organic thin films by force-modulation microscopy in aqueous media

• Jianming Zhang,
• Zehra Parlak,
• Carleen M. Bowers,
• Terrence Oas and
• Stefan Zauscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 464–474, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.53

• important role in a broad range of applications. Although force-modulation microscopy (FMM) is used to map the apparent elastic properties of such films with high lateral resolution in air, it has rarely been applied in aqueous media. In this letter we describe the use of FMM to map the apparent elastic

• lateral resolution is important for a broad range of applications in materials science [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and in the life sciences [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The atomic force microscope (AFM) [21], due to its force sensitivity and ability to image surface topography with high

• lateral resolution, is ideally suited to map these properties. Intermittent AFM imaging modes, such as tapping mode [22][23][24], and pulsed-force mode [12][25][26][27][28], have been developed for soft, often biological, samples in liquid environments. Although these imaging modes reduce the lateral

Parallel- and serial-contact electrochemical metallization of monolayer nanopatterns: A versatile synthetic tool en route to bottom-up assembly of electric nanocircuits

• Jonathan Berson,
• Assaf Zeira,
• Rivka Maoz and
• Jacob Sagiv

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 134–143, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.14

• regions and the narrow lines of the same template feature, respectively. Because of the high density of nanoparticles in region A, the lateral resolution of individual particles in the topographic image of this region (left) is poor, particles widths being here obtained from the simultaneously recorded

Substrate-mediated effects in photothermal patterning of alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers with microfocused continuous-wave lasers

• Anja Schröter,
• Mark Kalus and
• Nils Hartmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 65–74, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.8

• continuous-wave lasers. The lateral resolution, generally, depends on both the type of the organic monolayer and the nature of the substrate. In previous studies we reported on photothermal patterning of distinct types of SAMs on Si supports. In this contribution, a systematic study on the impact of the

• patterning technique. Because of the strongly temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of Si, surface-temperature profiles on Au/Si substrates are very narrow ensuring a particularly high lateral resolution. At a 1/e spot diameter of 2 µm, fabrication of subwavelength structures with diameters of 300–400

• optical diffraction limit, laser nanofabrication encounters significant challenges. Typically, minimum structure sizes are not much smaller than the wavelength of the laser source [13]. A means to extend the lateral resolution of laser patterning techniques into the subwavelength range is to take

Distinction of nucleobases – a tip-enhanced Raman approach

• Regina Treffer,
• Xiumei Lin,
• Elena Bailo,
• Tanja Deckert-Gaudig and
• Volker Deckert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 628–637, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.66

• of labeling or amplification steps. Here we investigate the intrinsic properties of tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) towards the development of a novel, label-free, direct sequencing method. It is known that TERS allows the acquisition of spectral information with high lateral resolution and

• electromagnetic field in the vicinity of the particle and consequently an increase of the Raman signal. Due to the size of the particle a lateral resolution of <20 nm can be reached [4][5][6][7][8]. The feasibility of TERS for biological samples has been exemplified by studies of specific molecules [9], single

• contamination. The spectra look remarkably similar and the main spectral features of uracil can be assigned. Minor variations in band intensity ratios and positions can be attributed to the previously discussed effects that appear when measuring with such a high lateral resolution [30]. Surprisingly, the

Distinguishing magnetic and electrostatic interactions by a Kelvin probe force microscopy–magnetic force microscopy combination

• Miriam Jaafar,
• Oscar Iglesias-Freire,
• Luis Serrano-Ramón,
• Manuel Ricardo Ibarra,
• Jose Maria de Teresa and
• Agustina Asenjo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 552–560, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.59

• different short, medium and long range interactions with high sensitivity and lateral resolution. The spreading of this technique was possible thanks to the development of specific operation modes and to the functionalization of the probes. Thus, regarding the mode employed, SFM can be used to characterize

• recorded at a given distance from the surface using the so-called lift mode [31] or retrace mode [32]. Typical distances for this second scan are between 20 nm and 50 nm. However, in order to improve both the lateral resolution and sensitivity, especially when dealing with materials with weak magnetization

Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopic imaging of patterned thiol monolayers

• Johannes Stadler,
• Thomas Schmid,
• Lothar Opilik,
• Phillip Kuhn,
• Petra S. Dittrich and
• Renato Zenobi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 509–515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.55

• the lateral resolution of TERS was not used to its full potential, but, by exploiting the signal enhancement, weak scatterers could be identified over a larger area. Thiols are used for several purposes. They can form a very thin protective layer on metal surfaces [8] or can be employed in sensorics

• ]. Single point TERS experiments have already been presented by our group in a study of the spectral and binding properties of 4-PySH on gold [29]. By using TERS, the topography and the chemical composition of molecular monolayers can be measured simultaneously during Raman imaging with high lateral

• resolution, around 15 nm, as demonstrated for areas of less than 500 × 500 nm2 [30]. As shown here, large sample areas can also be measured to gain information from coarser structures. Traditionally this is the scale where confocal Raman microscopy has its strengths, but due to the low signal intensity from

The role of the cantilever in Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements

• George Elias,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Alex Schwarzman,
• Amir Boag and
• Yossi Rosenwaks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 252–260, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.29

• obtain high lateral resolution. Colchero et al. [12] calculated the influence of the cantilever on the KPFM resolution, and several groups [13][14][15] derived analytic expressions for the cantilever electrostatic force. To the best of our knowledge, despite the above studies, the accurate role of the

• of relative to a model that takes into account only the tip. In addition, since only a scaling factor is introduced in Equation 2, the cantilever does not affect the lateral resolution, but may strongly affect the CPD absolute value, even in high resolution UHV KPFM measurements, as we demonstrate

• below. It should be noted that our model does not include signal-to-noise considerations, which may reduce the lateral resolution due to the above scaling. Results and Discussion Cantilever influence on the system PSF and force analysis The influence of the cantilever was calculated for two different

Defects in oxide surfaces studied by atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopy

• Thomas König,
• Georg H. Simon,
• Lars Heinke,
• Leonid Lichtenstein and
• Markus Heyde

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 1–14, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.1

• . This means on the other hand, the contact potential difference is actually 2 to 10 times larger than recorded. Furthermore, we conclude that the tip is influenced by these defects over a distance of approximately 2–3 nm, which might be a reasonable estimation of the tip size. This gives also the lateral

• resolution of the measurements. As shown in [36] and [49], the determined contact potential difference depends also on the tip-sample distance. In general, a smaller distance increases the size of the interaction and decreases the integration area, this means the determined difference of the contact

Magnetic interactions between nanoparticles

• Steen Mørup,
• Mikkel Fougt Hansen and
• Cathrine Frandsen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 182–190, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.22

• magnetic field component of a thin sample with a lateral resolution of a few nanometers [32][33]. From the obtained images, the influence of dipolar interactions between magnetic nanoparticles can be very apparent. For example, this technique has resolved an almost linear magnetic flux along the chain

Tip-sample interactions on graphite studied using the wavelet transform

• Giovanna Malegori and
• Gabriele Ferrini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 172–181, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.21

• radius of curvature given by the manufacturer (R = 10 nm). To promote this technique from proof of principle to a measurement of the Hamaker constant with a good lateral resolution, a thorough characterization of the tip radius of curvature is needed. Finally, we note that the whole force curve is