Method and Apparatus of Electrical Property Measurement Using an AFM Operating in Peak Force Tapping Mode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016178659-A1
Application number	US-201514970237-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 15, 2015
Priority date	Nov 13, 2008
Publication date	Jun 23, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An apparatus and method of collecting topography, mechanical property data and electrical property data with an atomic force microscope (AFM) in either a single pass or a dual pass operation. PFT mode is preferably employed thus allowing the use of a wide range of probes, one benefit of which is to enhance the sensitivity of electrical property measurement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of operating a scanning probe microscope, the method comprising:
providing an atomic force microscope (AFM) including a probe having a tip, wherein the material of the entire tip is homogeneous; providing relative scanning motion between the probe and a sample causing the probe to interact with the sample; and operating the AFM to collect topography data, mechanical property data and electrical property data with the probe in one of a group including a single pass procedure and a two pass procedure.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the operating step includes using PFT mode to collect the topography data and the mechanical property data.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the operating step is performed as a two pass procedure using LiftMode™, and the topography data collected in a first pass of the two pass procedure is used in the second pass.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the second pass includes using FM-KPFM and wherein the FM modulation step includes providing first and second lock-in amplifiers in a cascade configuration.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the probe has a spring constant less than 1 N/m.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the operating step is a two pass procedure including a first pass and a second pass, and wherein the second pass includes using a high voltage detection circuit to measure a surface potential of the sample greater than ±12 volts.

7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the operating step is a two pass procedure including a first pass and a second pass, and wherein the second pass includes applying an AC bias voltage between the probe and the sample, the AC bias voltage having a frequency lower than one-half the resonant frequency of the probe.

8 . A method for measuring multiple properties of a sample, the method comprising:
providing an atomic force microscope (AFM) including a probe having a tip; operating the AFM to cause the probe to interact with the sample in a one pass procedure; collecting topographic and mechanical property data corresponding to the sample using PFT mode; and collecting electrical property data corresponding to the sample with the probe using KPFM.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the probe has an insulating cantilever with a conductive tip made of a single material on one side, and a conductive coating on the other side made of a pure metal.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein KPFM is one of amplitude-modulation KPFM and frequency-modulation KPFM.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the operating step includes using PFT mode to collect the topography data and the mechanical property data.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the operating step is performed as a two pass procedure using LiftMode™, and the topography data collected in a first pass of the two pass procedure is used in the second pass.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the second pass includes using FM-KPFM and wherein the FM modulation step includes providing first and second lock-in amplifiers in a cascade configuration.

14 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising performing a thermal tuning step to determine the fundamental resonant frequency of the probe.

15 . A method of operating an atomic force microscope (AFM) to measure a sample, the method comprising:
providing an AFM including a probe having a tip, wherein the entire tip is made of a homogeneous material; operating the AFM in peak force tapping (PFT) mode; and collecting KPFM data during said operating step.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising performing a thermal tuning step to determine the fundamental resonant frequency of the probe.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the operating step is performed as a two pass procedure using LiftMode™, and the topography data collected in a first pass of the two pass procedure is used in the second pass.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the second pass includes using FM-KPFM and wherein the FM modulation step includes providing first and second lock-in amplifiers in a cascade configuration.

Assignees

• Bruker Nano Inc

Inventors

• Li Chunzeng
• Hu Yan
• Ma Ji
• He Jianli
• Huang Lin
• Minne Stephen C
• Mittel Henry
• Wang Weijie
• Hu Shuiqing
• Su Chanmin

Classifications

• G01Q60/34 Primary

  Tapping mode · CPC title

• G01Q60/30

  Scanning potential microscopy · CPC title

• G01Q60/24 Primary

  AFM [Atomic Force Microscopy] or apparatus therefor, e.g. AFM probes · CPC title

• G01Q60/32

  AC mode · CPC title

• G01Q60/00

  Particular types of SPM [Scanning Probe Microscopy] or microscopes; Essential components thereof · CPC title