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

• challenge in precision measurements of local electrical parameters lies on possible contributions of environmental factors as well as on unknown electrical properties of the scanning tip. The work by Piquemal et al. tackles these challenges by introducing a reference sample suitable for calibrating the

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

• characteristic AFM measurement times, it may influence not only the topography, but also other interaction channels, particularly, those related to electrostatic properties. Finally, it is worth noting that the oscillating surface charge on the material’s surface may not only be induced by the scanning tip but

Determination of the radii of coated and uncoated silicon AFM sharp tips using a height calibration standard grating and a nonlinear regression function

• Perawat Boonpuek and
• Jonathan R. Felts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1200–1207, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.99

• determine the profile of the curvature radius of the scanning tip. In our experiment, we used the inner standard grating area with a line grate pitch of 5 µm, because the AFM tip can easily scan through each linewidth within a small scan area of 10 µm × 10 µm. Determination of Tip Radii Scanning the height

• suitable to be fitted with a nonlinear regression method. The data points of tip position (the measured displacement of the scanning tip) in (x, y) coordinates were imported into MATLAB. Then, we used a nonlinear regression function in MATLAB to fit the arc curve to the measured data to estimate the tip

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

• . Applications range from mechanical and electrical sample characterization to measurements in liquids [1][2][3][4] and even in living cells [5][6][7][8]. The critical element of an AFM is the scanning probe itself, which is usually represented by a micro-cantilever beam equipped with a conical scanning tip. As

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

• corrosion on nanoscale friction. The evolution of friction upon repeated scanning cycles on the corroded surfaces reveals a bilayer surface oxide film, of which the outer layer is removed by the scanning tip. The measurement of friction and adhesion allows one to compare the physicochemical processes of

Topographic signatures and manipulations of Fe atoms, CO molecules and NaCl islands on superconducting Pb(111)

• Carl Drechsel,
• Philipp D’Astolfo,
• Jung-Ching Liu,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Rémy Pawlak and
• Ernst Meyer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1–9, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.1

• between maxima (Figure 2c), corresponding to the distance of aPb = 4.95 Å between two Pb(110) rows (dashed lines in Figure 2b). In agreement with [57], the additional length of ≈2 Å might be related to the tilting of the adsorbed CO molecules under the scanning tip as well as the tip convolution during

Optically and electrically driven nanoantennas

• Monika Fleischer,
• Dai Zhang and
• Alfred J. Meixner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1542–1545, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.136

• , Germany 10.3762/bjnano.11.136 Keywords: active plasmonics; electrically driven nanoantenna; gap antenna; nanoantenna; nanofabrication; nanospectroscopy; nano-photonics; optical antenna; second harmonic generation; sensing; scanning tip; surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA); surface-enhanced Raman

• to a sharp tip is refined to a two-step procedure with high throughput. A self-assembly approach to create a dumbbell antenna consisting of a 40 nm and an 80 nm Au nanoparticle at a scanning tip is shown in [48] and applied for single molecule sensitivity imaging. The advantage of applying TERS for

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond for nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging applications

• Alberto Boretti,
• Lorenzo Rosa,
• Jonathan Blackledge and
• Stefania Castelletto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2128–2151, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.207

• is rarely used. Scanning NV center probe and scanning magnetic tip magnetic sensing with high spatial resolution [36] have also been proposed. Recent advances in diamond fabrication for scanning tip magnetometry have been achieved by a functionalized ND with NV center magnetic spins scanned by

Electrostatic force spectroscopy revealing the degree of reduction of individual graphene oxide sheets

• Yue Shen,
• Ying Wang,
• Yuan Zhou,
• Chunxi Hai,
• Jun Hu and
• Yi Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1146–1155, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.106

• on a substrate that could be easily damaged by a scanning tip. In the SPFM operation, a direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) bias is applied to a conductive probe, polarizing the sample below and generating a long-range electrostatic attractive force. This electrostatic attractive force

Magnetic characterization of cobalt nanowires and square nanorings fabricated by focused electron beam induced deposition

• Federico Venturi,
• Gian Carlo Gazzadi,
• Amir H. Tavabi,
• Alberto Rota,
• Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski and
• Stefano Frabboni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1040–1049, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.97

• outside and inside the sample. MFM is a microscopy technique that is closely related to atomic force microscopy (AFM) [31]. The scanning tip is magnetized and is therefore sensitive to magnetic fields generated by the sample. Attractive and repulsive forces between the tip and the sample are measured and

Scanning probe microscopy studies on the adsorption of selected molecular dyes on titania

• Jakub S. Prauzner-Bechcicki,
• Lukasz Zajac,
• Piotr Olszowski,
• Res Jöhr,
• Antoine Hinaut,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Bartosz Such,
• Ernst Meyer and
• Marek Szymonski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1642–1653, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.156

• can be imaged with STM at room temperature. On the contrary, the ZnTPP molecules are easily disturbed by the scanning tip, which hinders high-quality microscopic analysis. As the coverage density increases, both species form stable islands with flat-lying molecules and rhomboid unit cells. For even

Insect attachment on crystalline bioinspired wax surfaces formed by alkanes of varying chain lengths

• Elena Gorb,
• Sandro Böhm,
• Nadine Jacky,
• Louis-Philippe Maier,
• Kirstin Dening,
• Sasha Pechook,
• Boaz Pokroy and
• Stanislav Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1031–1041, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.116

• software (SPIP, Version 5.1.2, Image Metrology A/S, Hørsholm, Danemark) for evaluation of roughness parameters, such as Ra (mean roughness) and r.m.s. (root mean square of roughness). Prior to roughness analyses, the images were plane corrected. The scanning tip geometry was characterized by scanning on a

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

• Δf(z) measurements or tip indentations carried out specifically to modify the apex, the scanning tip is constantly oscillating at a rate of a few kilohertz, often with an amplitude that is larger than the silicon interaction potential. Therefore, as the average z position is ramped towards the sample

STM tip-assisted engineering of molecular nanostructures: PTCDA islands on Ge(001):H surfaces

• Amir A. Ahmad Zebari,
• Marek Kolmer and
• Jakub S. Prauzner-Bechcicki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 927–932, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.104

• in an industrial process may require, however, the reshaping and tailoring of the structure with precise top-down methods to obtain the desired shape and properties. Scanning tip induced processes may serve as such a step to adjust the final form of the molecular nanostructure. The design and

• -tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) molecular islands on a hydrogen passivated germanium surface, Ge(001):H, are presented. The application of bias voltage pulses in STM allows for the modification of the islands. We found that the presence of a scanning tip of the tunneling microscope facilitates and speeds the

• crossed by diffusing molecules at rt, even in the presence of the field created by the scanning tip, and the molecules prefer to diffuse laterally within the same layer instead of moving downward to fill in the hole [30]. The height of the island changes by 0.35 nm, as can be inferred from a comparison of

Molecular-resolution imaging of pentacene on KCl(001)

• Julia L. Neff,
• Jan Götzen,
• Enhui Li,
• Michael Marz and
• Regina Hoffmann-Vogel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 186–191, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.20

• (Figure 4). We exclude the possibility that one of the observed patterns was caused by an irreversible interaction with the scanning tip, because they repeatedly switched. Conclusion The arrangement of pentacene molecules in islands grown on KCl(001) at submonolayer coverage was investigated. It was found

The atomic force microscope as a mechano–electrochemical pen

• Christian Obermair,
• Andreas Wagner and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 659–664, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.70

• experiments performed by LaGraff and Gewirth [26][27] demonstrated that the influence of the scanning tip can lead to both reduction or enhancement of copper deposition on the surface of copper single crystals. In further work we demonstrated the local electrochemical deposition of metal islands mechanically

• . Subsequent AFM imaging leads to the image in Figure 2 (top) (scan size 1.8 µm × 1.8 µm). Three unconnected Cu nanostructures (“INT”) were deposited successively and site-selectively based on the “activation” or de-passivation by the scanning tip of the AFM. A further example of this method is given in Figure

• mechanical depassivation of the substrate surface by the scanning tip, leading to local deposition in the depassivated area. If the tip is scanned repeatedly along a given line pattern while a deposition potential is applied, this will result in the site-selective deposition along the scanning path of the