Thickness dependent oxidation in CrCl₃: a scanning X-ray photoemission and Kelvin probe microscopies study

• Shafaq Kazim,
• Rahul Parmar,
• Maryam Azizinia,
• Matteo Amati,
• Muhammad Rauf,
• Andrea Di Cicco,
• Seyed Javid Rezvani,
• Dario Mastrippolito,
• Luca Ottaviano,
• Tomasz Klimczuk,
• Luca Gregoratti and
• Roberto Gunnella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 749–761, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.58

• particular technological interest, even more in the case of chromium trihalides (CrX3, X = Cl, Br, and I), whose longer lifetime under ambient conditions is particularly intriguing. By using synchrotron-based scanning photoelectron microscopy with a resolution of 0.1 μm and Kelvin probe force microscopy, we

• oxidation or the introduction of surface vacancies, a novel and versatile approach is unveiled for the development of low-dimensional multifunctional nanodevices. Keywords: chemical mapping; CrX3; Kelvin probe force microscopy; mechanical exfoliation; scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM); two

• correlation between the microscopic results and the surface potential of CrCl3 flakes at the nanoscale level using Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) [28]. KPFM is mainly employed to measure the local contact potential difference between the conductive AFM tip and the sample, allowing for high-resolution

The impact of tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane hole transport layer doping on interfacial charge extraction and recombination

• Konstantinos Bidinakis and
• Stefan A. L. Weber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 678–689, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.52

• in solar cells based on these materials. To do so on operating solar cells, we created samples with exposed cross-sections and examined their potential profile distributions with Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), implementing our comprehensive measurement protocol. Using the Lewis acid tris

• ; hole transport layer doping; Kelvin probe force microscopy; perovskite solar cells; Introduction Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are a promising class of photovoltaic material that exhibits high power conversion efficiencies and relies on a low-cost solution-processed fabrication method [1][2][3][4]. At

• for static KPFM, which allows us to evaluate the response of our cells under both applied voltages and under illumination. Kelvin probe force microscopy characterization with an applied voltage When charges get generated, they drift to the sides of the device to externally recombine, or in the case of

Nanoscale capacitance spectroscopy based on multifrequency electrostatic force microscopy

• Pascal N. Rohrbeck,
• Lukas D. Cavar,
• Franjo Weber,
• Peter G. Reichel,
• Mara Niebling and
• Stefan A. L. Weber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 637–651, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.49

• nanoscale systems across materials science, biology, and nanotechnology, complementing established methods in the field. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; capacitance gradients; dielectric constant; dielectric spectroscopy; heterodyne frequency mixing; Kelvin probe force microscopy; multifrequency AFM

• or heterodyne Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) [18][26][79]. The second harmonic signals are proportional to the local capacitance gradients, providing information about the local tip–sample capacitance. To ensure a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio, the resulting frequencies should coincide with

• part shows the excitation frequencies () and the detection frequencies () of the applied frequencies. The red arrow corresponds to topography, and the blue arrow corresponds to the electrical signal. The representation of Figure 1 was inspired by [18][26]. A comparison of heterodyne Kelvin probe force

Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques V

• Philipp Rahe,
• Ilko Bald,
• Nadine Hauptmann,
• Regina Hoffmann-Vogel,
• Harry Mönig and
• Michael Reichling

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 54–56, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.6

• not involving any tip–surface interaction. The measurement of electrostatic properties at the nanoscale emerged as a most relevant subfield of atomic force microscopy, especially driven by electrostatic force microscopy (EFM), Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), and closely related techniques

Local work function on graphene nanoribbons

• Daniel Rothhardt,
• Amina Kimouche,
• Tillmann Klamroth and
• Regina Hoffmann-Vogel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1125–1131, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.91

• nanoribbons; Kelvin probe force microscopy; local contact potential difference; Introduction Graphene’s electronic properties are determined by its two-dimensionality as well as by its semimetallic gapless conical band structure [1]. Its electronic behavior depends strongly on the location of the Fermi level

• surfaces, all related to charge differences; for a review, see [14]. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), a method derived from scanning force microscopy (SFM), allows one to study the local work function difference of a sample with great accuracy and with atomic resolution [15][16][17][18][19][20]. In

• exhibit a slow decrease with tip–sample distance in qualitative agreement with calculations. Our results highlight the potential of Kelvin probe force microscopy to simultaneously study structural and electronic properties of GNRs and the capability of KPFM as a useful tool for observing the electronic

Exploring surface charge dynamics: implications for AFM height measurements in 2D materials

• Mario Navarro-Rodriguez,
• Andres M. Somoza and
• Elisa Palacios-Lidon

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 767–780, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.64

• [30]. This issue can be addressed with Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). Under ambient conditions, the most common mode is amplitude modulation (AM-AFM), which uses the oscillation amplitude reduction as the input for the topography feedback. Its main aspects are summarized in [31]. At large free

Effect of repeating hydrothermal growth processes and rapid thermal annealing on CuO thin film properties

• Monika Ozga,
• Eunika Zielony,
• Aleksandra Wierzbicka,
• Anna Wolska,
• Marcin Klepka,
• Marek Godlewski,
• Bogdan J. Kowalski and
• Bartłomiej S. Witkowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 743–754, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.62

• crystalline quality of the films. The implementation of the HT+RTA procedure significantly enhances the potential of CuO films for electronic applications. Key findings from Kelvin probe force microscopy analysis demonstrate the possibility of modulating the work function of the material. In addition

• resolution of 256 × 256 pixels presented in the paper were derived from the “SCM data” channel. Contact potential difference (VCPD) measurements were carried out using Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) in amplitude modulation mode, also employing SCM-PIT-V2 probes from Bruker. These measurements were

Controllable physicochemical properties of WO_x thin films grown under glancing angle

• Rupam Mandal,
• Aparajita Mandal,
• Alapan Dutta,
• Rengasamy Sivakumar,
• Sanjeev Kumar Srivastava and
• Tapobrata Som

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 350–359, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.31

• uniformity. WSxM software was used to carry out AFM image analysis. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) was used to study the local work function of the WOx films. WOx samples were removed from the high-vacuum environment right before the KPFM measurements to avoid any contamination in air. For KPFM

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

• Benjamin Grevin Fatima Husainy Dmitry Aldakov Cyril Aumaitre Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CEA, IRIG-SyMMES, 38000 Grenoble, France 10.3762/bjnano.14.88 Abstract We present a new open-loop implementation of Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) that provides access to the Fourier spectrum of the

• ; intermodulation; KPFM; nc-AFM; surface photovoltage; time-resolved measurements; Introduction Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) is a well-known variant of AFM that allows probing at the nanoscale the electrostatic landscape on the surface of a sample by measuring the so-called contact potential difference

• optoelectronic interfaces formed between caesium lead bromide perovskite nanosheets and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy Background, Amplitude-Modulated Heterodyne KPFM Many KPFM modes rely on the detection of a modulated component of the electrostatic force proportional to the

Spatial mapping of photovoltage and light-induced displacement of on-chip coupled piezo/photodiodes by Kelvin probe force microscopy under modulated illumination

• Zeinab Eftekhari,
• Nasim Rezaei,
• Hidde Stokkel,
• Jian-Yao Zheng,
• Andrea Cerreta,
• Ilka Hermes,
• Minh Nguyen,
• Guus Rijnders and
• Rebecca Saive

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1059–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.87

• In this work, a silicon photodiode integrated with a piezoelectric membrane is studied by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) under modulated illumination. Time-dependent KPFM enables simultaneous quantification of the surface photovoltage generated by the photodiode as well as the resulting

• spatially map voltage-induced oscillation of various sizes of piezoelectric membranes without the photodiode to investigate their position- and size-dependent displacement. Keywords: Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM); light-driven micro/nano systems; piezoelectric membrane; surface photovoltage (SPV

• with atomic vertical resolution. In several studies, AFM has been used to determine photo-induced height/topography variation in organic–inorganic lead halide perovskites [15], nanosheets [16], and photosensitive polymers [17]. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), an electrostatic variant of AFM, can

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

• consisting of many layers and interfaces. The study and the comprehension of the mechanisms that take place at the interfaces is crucial for efficiency improvement. In this work, we apply frequency-modulated Kelvin probe force microscopy under ambient conditions to investigate the capability of this

• photogenerated carrier distributions. The analysis of the KPFM data was assisted by means of theoretical modelling simulating the energy bands profile and KPFM measurements. Keywords: FM-KPFM; frequency-modulated Kelvin probe force microscopy; III–V multilayer stack; Kelvin probe modelling; KP modelling; SPV

• measurements based on scanning probe microscopy (SPM) allow for the analysis of two-dimensional (2D) features at the surface and along a physical cross section of nanoscale semiconductor structures. Among the wide variety of SPM techniques available [3], Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) is an application

High–low Kelvin probe force spectroscopy for measuring the interface state density

• Ryo Izumi,
• Masato Miyazaki,
• Yan Jun Li and
• Yasuhiro Sugawara

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 175–189, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.18

• Ryo Izumi Masato Miyazaki Yan Jun Li Yasuhiro Sugawara Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan 10.3762/bjnano.14.18 Abstract The recently proposed high–low Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) enables evaluation

• surfaces to confirm the dependence of the electrostatic force on the frequency of the AC bias voltage and obtain the interface state density. Keywords: high–low Kelvin probe force microscopy; high–low Kelvin probe force spectroscopy; interface state density; Kelvin probe force microscopy; Kelvin probe

• [1][2][3]. Therefore, direct observation of semiconductor surfaces with nanoscale spatial resolution will become even more important for understanding and controlling the effects of these properties on devices and for evaluating semiconductor device operation. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) is

Utilizing the surface potential of a solid electrolyte region as the potential reference in Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Nobuyuki Ishida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1558–1563, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.129

• electrodes. In Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) measurements on electrochemical cells, the surface potential is generally measured relative to electrical ground instead of a stable reference. Here, we show that the changes in the surface potential, measured using KPFM relative to the surface potential in

• . Keywords: electrochemistry; Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM); reference electrode; solid electrolyte; Introduction Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) is a scanning probe technique for imaging surface potentials on the nanometer scale [1][2][3][4]. Its operating principle is based on detecting the

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

• governing the performance of single and multifrequency Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) techniques in both air and water. Metrics such as minimum detectable contact potential difference, minimum required AC bias, and signal-to-noise ratio are compared and contrasted both off resonance and utilizing the

• of topography and surface properties of interfaces in a wide range of environments [1]. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) utilizes the application of a bias and a conductive probe to map the local electrical properties of an interface at the nanoscale [2], allowing for the determination of the

Direct measurement of surface photovoltage by AC bias Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Masato Miyazaki,
• Yasuhiro Sugawara and
• Yan Jun Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 712–720, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.63

• photocatalytic semiconductors. The local SPV is generally measured consecutively by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) in darkness and under illumination, in which thermal drift degrades spatial and energy resolutions. In this study, we propose the method of AC bias Kelvin probe force microscopy (AC-KPFM

• modulated external disturbances. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; Kelvin probe force microscopy; photocatalyst; surface photovoltage; titanium dioxide; Introduction Surface photovoltage (SPV) is the change in surface potential caused by light illumination [1][2] and is measured to determine such

• features as band bending [3][4], the lifetimes of excited carriers [5][6][7], the minority carrier diffusion length [8][9], and the plasmonic effect [10][11][12]. The local SPV is usually measured by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], which is based on atomic force

Quantitative dynamic force microscopy with inclined tip oscillation

• Philipp Rahe,
• Daniel Heile,
• Reinhard Olbrich and
• Michael Reichling

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 610–619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.53

• has been applied. Additionally, a tilted cantilever has been found to lead to a modification of the tip–sample convolution [12], to enhance the sensitivity of the measurement to the probe side [13], and to influence results of multifrequency AFM and Kelvin probe force microscopy [14]. In the presence

Measurement of polarization effects in dual-phase ceria-based oxygen permeation membranes using Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Kerstin Neuhaus,
• Christina Schmidt,
• Liudmila Fischer,
• Wilhelm Albert Meulenberg,
• Ke Ran,
• Joachim Mayer and
• Stefan Baumann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1380–1391, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.102

• was used as a model to demonstrate that a combination of polarization relaxation measurements and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM)-based mapping of the Volta potential before and after the end of polarization can be used to determine the chemical diffusion coefficient of the ceria component of the

• |ceria, ceria|electron conductor, and electron conductor|electron conductor). Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) is an atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based measurement method that can measure the local surface potential (or Volta potential) of the sample [18][19]. The surface potential is a sensitive

• small contacts are needed, where the electron and ion conducting phase can be addressed separately, making AFM-based electrochemical measurements predestined for detailed analyses of the constituents of composite materials. Theoretical Background Kelvin probe force microscopy The presented measurements

Open-loop amplitude-modulation Kelvin probe force microscopy operated in single-pass PeakForce tapping mode

• Gheorghe Stan and
• Pradeep Namboodiri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1115–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.83

• (OL) variant of Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) provides access to the voltage response of the electrostatic interaction between a conductive atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe and the investigated sample. The measured response can be analyzed a posteriori, modeled, and interpreted to include

• probe force microscopy; open loop; surface potential; Introduction Over many years, an abundance of developments and applications has made Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) [1] one of the most versatile nanoscale surface electronic characterization techniques. With its main measurement in terms of

• of the cantilever to the determined local contact potential difference between the AFM probe and the imaged sample. The removal of this unwanted contribution greatly improved the accuracy of the AM-KPFM measurements to the level of the FM-KPFM counterpart. Keywords: electrostatic interaction; Kelvin

The role of convolutional neural networks in scanning probe microscopy: a review

• Ido Azuri,
• Irit Rosenhek-Goldian,
• Neta Regev-Rudzki,
• Georg Fantner and
• Sidney R. Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 878–901, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.66

• analysis gave the best result. The authors suggest that using data obtained before from neural network analysis as input to model fitting could be extended to other modalities of SPM, such as magnetic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy. Another recent example of application to a non

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

• the contact potential difference measured by Kelvin probe force microscopy. Using 3D force profiles of the same area we determine the relative stiffness of the Moiré region allowing us to analyse both electronic and mechanical properties of the 2D layer simultaneously. We obtain a sheet stiffness of

• –4.5 V is due to varying contributions from the two interfaces of the dielectric layer. We therefore evaluate the unambiguous shift of the second peak at around 5.6–6.0 V as a measure for the local Φ variation. Our nc-AFM allows us to employ with Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) a second

Reconstruction of a 2D layer of KBr on Ir(111) and electromechanical alteration by graphene

• Zhao Liu,
• Antoine Hinaut,
• Stefan Peeters,
• Sebastian Scherb,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Maria Clelia Righi and
• Thilo Glatzel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 432–439, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.35

• pattern. Comprehensive calculations by DFT, taking into account the observed periodicities, resulted in a new low-energy reconstruction. However, it is fully relaxed into a common cubic structure when a monolayer of graphene is located between substrate and KBr. By using Kelvin probe force microscopy, the

• Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), as can be seen in Supporting Information File 1, Figure S3. To be able to tune this corrugated structure, a monolayer of graphene was prepared on Ir(111) before KBr deposition. Figure 4a shows a large-area topography of the Ir(111) surface, half of which is covered

• –800 pm and a typical quality factor of Q2 = 10,000) with the torsional resonance detection (frequency of ft ≈ 1.5 MHz, amplitude of At = 20–80 pm and a typical quality factor of Qt = 100,000) [50][52]. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) was performed in FM-KPFM mode by applying a DC compensation and

Fusion of purple membranes triggered by immobilization on carbon nanomembranes

• René Riedel,
• Natalie Frese,
• Fang Yang,
• Martin Wortmann,
• Raphael Dalpke,
• Daniel Rhinow,
• Norbert Hampp and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 93–101, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.8

• was used for topographical pictures with a smaller field of view as well as for electrostatic measurements. For PeakForce Kelvin probe force microscopy (PF-KPFM), a line is first scanned in PeakForce mode. In a second scan the same line is scanned with an adjustable height offset and using 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

• Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPM) [27] which were developed to identify local chemical or structural specificities in the samples. All the methods mentioned above are, to different degrees, advanced techniques which require additional equipment and expertise. TERS and AFM-IR are hybrid setups which

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

• Kalman filter; Kelvin probe force microscopy (KFM); time domain; Introduction Electrostatic forces are important interactions in non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM). They arise from differences in the work function of the tip and the sample, from trapped charges, or from potentials applied to

• active nanoelectronic devices. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KFM) is a technique used to quantitatively characterize such electrical properties [1][2][3]. It is applied to map material compositions via changes in the work function, to localize charge distributions in dielectric samples [4][5], and to

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

• 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