Atomic Force Microscopy(AFM)

By
Anjali Pandey
Farhin Mujawar
AFM
Atomic force
microscopy or scanning
force microscopy is a
very-high-resolution
type of scanning probe
microscopy, with
demonstrated
resolution on the order
of fractions of a
nanometer, more than
1000 times better than
the optical diffraction
limit.
Principle of Operation
AFM works by scanning a probe over the sample
surface, building up a map of the height or
topography of the surface as it goes along.
Basic concept of AFM instrumentation :
The piezoelectric transducer moves the tip over
the sample surface, the force transducer senses the
force between the tip and the surface, and the
feedback control feeds the signal from the force
transducer back in to the piezoelectric, to maintain
a fixed force between the tip and the sample.
The feedback control is used to maintain a set force
between the probe and the sample
 AFM instrument
The main components of an AFM are
 microscope stage-moving AFM tip, sample
holder, force sensor
 control electronics-optical microscope,
vibration controller
computer- the control electronic usually takes
the form of large box interfaces to both the
microscope stage and the computer.
Block diagram
Imaging modes
The different imaging modes of AFM are:
 Contact mode

Non contact mode

Tapping mode
Contact mode
The contact mode where the tip scans the sample
in close contact with the surface is the common
mode used in the force microscope. The force on
the tip is repulsive with a mean value of 10 -9 N.
This force is set by pushing the cantilever against
the sample surface with a piezoelectric positioning
element. In contact mode AFM the deflection of the
cantilever is sensed and compared in a DC
feedback amplifier to some desired value of
deflection.
Contact mode AFM is almost always done at a
depth where the overall force is repulsive, that is, in
firm "contact" with the solid surface.
Non contact mode
In non-contact atomic force microscopy mode, the tip of
the cantilever does not contact the sample surface. The
cantilever is instead oscillated at either its resonant
frequency (frequency modulation) or just above (amplitude
modulation) where the amplitude of oscillation is typically a
few nanometers (<10 nm) down to a few picometers.
 The van der Waals forces, which are strongest from 1 nm
to 10 nm above the surface, or any other long-range force
that extends above the surface acts to decrease the
resonance frequency of the cantilever.
 This decrease in resonant frequency combined with the
feedback loop system maintains a constant oscillation
amplitude or frequency by adjusting the average tip-to-
sample distance.
Non contact mode
Non-contact mode AFM does not suffer from tip or
sample degradation effects that are sometimes observed
after taking numerous scans with contact AFM. This
makes non-contact AFM preferable to contact AFM for
measuring soft samples, e.g. biological samples and
organic thin film.
 In the case of rigid samples, contact and non-contact
images may look the same. However, if a few
monolayers of adsorbed fluid are lying on the surface of
a rigid sample, the images may look quite different.
An AFM operating in contact mode will penetrate the
liquid layer to image the underlying surface, whereas in
non-contact mode an AFM will oscillate above the
adsorbed fluid layer to image both the liquid and surface.
Tapping mode
In ambient conditions, most samples develop a liquid
meniscus layer. Because of this, keeping the probe
tip close enough to the sample for short-range forces
to become detectable while preventing the tip from
sticking to the surface presents a major problem for
contact mode in ambient conditions.
 Dynamic contact mode (also called intermittent
contact, AC mode or tapping mode) was developed
to bypass this problem.[ Nowadays, tapping mode is
the most frequently used AFM mode when operating
in ambient conditions or in liquids.
In tapping mode, the cantilever is driven to oscillate
up and down at or near its resonance frequency.
Tapping mode
. This oscillation is commonly achieved with a small
piezo element in the cantilever holder, but other
possibilities include an AC magnetic field,
piezoelectric cantilevers, or periodic heating with a
modulated laser beam. The amplitude of this
oscillation usually varies from several nm to 200 nm.
 In tapping mode, the frequency and amplitude of the
driving signal are kept constant, leading to a constant
amplitude of the cantilever oscillation as long as
there is no drift or interaction with the surface. 
A tapping AFM image is produced by imaging the
force of the intermittent contacts of the tip with the
sample surface.
Advantages
The atomic force microscope is a powerful
tool that is invaluable if you want to
measure incredibly small samples with a
great degree of accuracy.
Unlike rival technologies it does not require
either a vacuum or the sample to undergo
treatment that might damage it.
At the limits of operation however,
researchers have demonstrated atomic
resolution in high vacuum and even liquid
environments.
Disadvantages
One of the major downsides is the single scan
image size, which is of the order of 150x150
micrometers, compared with millimeters for
a scanning electron microscope.
Another disadvantage is the relatively slow scan
time, which can lead to thermal drift on the
sample.
As the technology matures, researchers are relying
on there being progress instrumentally, requiring
improved signal-to-noise ratio, decreased thermal
drift, and better detection and control of tip-
sample forces, including the use of sharp probes.
Applications
It can image far more biological processes,
such as imaging of proteins.
Any sample like ceramic material, human
cells or individual molecules of DNA,
dispersion of metallic nano-particles can be
imaged.
 
Thank you