North Campus Instruments - Digital Instruments NanoScope E Atomic Force Microscope

Applications

Contact AFM STM Picoindentation

Scanners

AFMA: ~1µm x 1 µm AFMD: ~12 µm x 12 µm AFMJ: ~125µm x 125 µm AFM EV ~12µm x 12µm vertical engage scanner

Resolution

~0.3 nm (A or EV scanner, AFM Mode)

Accessories

Picoindenter from Hysitron Inc. a nanomechanical test instrument for quantitative depth-sensing nanoindentation.

Kristen Mills, a graduate student in the Department of Mechnical Engineering, operating the combined Nanoscope E / Triboscope scanning probe microscope and nano-mechnical indenter. Atomic Force/Scanning Probe Microscopy This instrument is essentially an extremely high resolution profilometer. A silicon nitride or silicon tip is scanned across the surface of a sample at a constant force, the position of the tip on the sample surface is controlled by three piezoelectric ceramics. These piezoelectrics are controlled by a microcomputer which monitors the position of the tip via the signal form a photodiode which receives reflected laser light from the top of the tip support. Two dimensional scans allow the construction of images of the sample surface, rather than just line profiles. The instrument is capable of imaging areas as large as 125 µm^2 and as small as a few tens of nanometers square. The maximum spatial resolution is such that the atomic surface of the structure may be revealed.