Improved nanotopography sensing via temperature control of a heated atomic force microscope cantilever

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM);cantilever;nanotopography;temperature control;sensitivity

Somnath, Suhas ; King ; William P.

关键词: Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM);    cantilever;    nanotopography;    temperature control;    sensitivity;   

Others  :  https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/24131/Somnath_Suhas.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

美国|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

This thesis reports thermal nanotopography sensing using a heated atomic forcemicroscope cantilever with a sensitivity as high as 4.68 mV/nm, which is two orders ofmagnitude higher than previously published results for heated cantilevers. The sensitivityimprovement arises from closed-loop control of cantilever temperature during the topographysensing. The cantilever temperature is controlled by maintaining constant electrical resistance,current, power, or voltage across either the entire electrical circuit or individual components ofthe circuit. A model that links the cantilever heat flow and temperature-dependent cantileverproperties to the circuit behavior in order to predict and then optimize the cantilever topographysensitivity was developed. Topography measurements on a 100 nm tall silicon grating showcantilever sensitivity ranging 0.047 to 4.68 mV/nm, depending on the control scheme. Theapplication of closed loop control yields a topography sensitivity that is 100X increased overpreviously published work on heated cantilevers.