FOOD MICROBIOLOGY & MICROBIAL

TECHNIQUES -FSR2002

DYNAMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY-DFM

NIRAJ SINGH
M.TECH-FSQM Ist SEM
I.D.No.(RA1812036010015)
INTRODUCTION
Dynamic force microscopy (DFM), also known as non-
contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM), is a mode of
atomic force microscopy, which itself is a type of scanning
probe microscopy.
 In non-contact mode, the probe tip oscillates in resonance
frequency with an amplitude of 0.1 to 10 nm, and operates
in the attractive region of the inter-atomic force curve. The
oscillation amplitude of cantilever is measured to track the
surface morphology by a feed back loop.
 Measures attractive forces between tip and sample
 Van der Waals forces between tip and sample detected
 Used to analyze semiconductors
 Doesn’t degrade or interfere with sample- better for soft
samples
NON-CONTACT MODE VS CONTACT MODE
AFM
 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 monolayer
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.
HISTORY
 Frequency modulation atomic force microscopy,
introduced by Albrecht, Gutter, Horne and Rugar in
1991.
 Amplitude modulation was one of the original modes of
operation introduced by Binnig and Quate in their
seminal 1986 AFM paper.
WORKING
 In nc-AFM a sharp probe is moved close to the surface
under study, the probe is then raster scanned across the
surface, the image is then constructed from the force
interactions during the scan.
 The probe is connected to a resonator, usually a silicon
cantilever or a quartz crystal resonator. During
measurements the sensor is driven so that it oscillates.
 The force interactions are measured either by measuring the
change in amplitude of the oscillation at a constant
frequency just off resonance (amplitude modulation) or by
measuring the change in resonant frequency directly using
a feedback circuit (usually a phase-locked loop) to always
drive the sensor on resonance (frequency modulation).
 •

MODE OF OPERATION

FREQUENCY MODULATION

 It is a mode of nc-AFM where the change in resonant frequency of the sensor

is tracked directly, by always exciting the sensor on resonance.
 To maintain excitation on resonance the electronics must keep at 90° phase
difference between the excitation and response of the sensor. This is either done
by driving the sensor with the deflection signal phase shifted by 90°, or by using
an advanced phase-locked loop which can lock to a specific phase.
 The microscope can then use the change in resonant frequency ( Δ f) as
the SPM reference channel, either in feedback mode, or it can be recorded
directly in constant height mode.
 While recording frequency-modulated images, an additional feedback loop is
normally used to keep the amplitude of resonance constant, by adjusting the
drive amplitude. By recording the drive amplitude during the scan a
complementary image is recorded showing only non-conservative forces.
 This allows conservative and non-conservative forces in the experiment to be
separated.
 AMPLITUDE MODULATION
 In this mode the sensor is excited just off resonance. By exciting the sensor just
above its resonant frequency, it is possible to detect forces which change the resonant
frequency by monitoring the amplitude of oscillation. An attractive force on the probe
causes a decrease in the sensors resonant frequency, thus the driving frequency is
further from resonance and the amplitude decreases, the opposite is true for a
repulsive force. The microscopes control electronics can then use amplitude as the
SPM reference channel, either in feedback mode, or it can be recorded directly in
constant height mode.
 Amplitude modulation can fail if the non-conservative forces (damping) change
during the experiment, as this changes the amplitude of the resonance peak itself,
which will be interpreted as a change in resonant frequency. Another potential
problem with amplitude modulation is that a sudden change to a more repulsive (less
attractive) force can shift the resonance past the drive frequency causing it to
decrease again. In constant height mode this will just lead to an image artefact, but in
feedback mode the feedback will read this as a stronger attractive force, causing
positive feedback until the feedback saturates.
 An advantage of amplitude modulation is that there is only one feedback loop
compared to three in frequency modulation making both operation and
implementation much easier. Amplitude modulation, however, is rarely used in
vacuum as the of the sensor is usually so high that the sensor oscillates many times
before the amplitude settles to its new value, thus slowing down operation.
SENSORS
 Silicon micro cantilever
Silicon micro cantilevers are produced from etching small rectangular,
triangular, or V-shaped cantilevers from silicon nitride. nc-AFM
cantilevers tend to have a higher stiffness, ~40 N/m, and resonant
frequency, ~200 kHz, than contact AFM cantilevers (with stiffnesses
~0.2 N/m and resonant frequencies ~15 kHz). The reason for the higher
stiffness is stop the probe snapping to contact with the surface due to Van
der Waals forces.
 qPlus sensor

A qPlus sensor is used in many ultra-high vacuum nc-AFMs. The sensor

has a much higher stiffness than silicon micro cantilevers, ~1800 N/m
The resonant frequency of a qPlus sensor is typically lower than that of a
silicon micro cantilever, ~25 kHz 
 Other sensors

Before the development of the silicon micro cantilever, gold foil or

tungsten wires were used.  A new development which is getting attention
is the Kolibri Sensor, using a length extensional quartz resonator, with a
very high resonant frequency (~1 MHz) allowing very fast operation.
ADVANTAGES :
• Both normal and lateral forces are minimized, so good for
measurement of very soft samples

• Can get atomic resolution in a UHV environment

DISADVANTAGES :
• In ambient conditions the absorbed fluid layer may be too
thick for effective measurements

• Slower scan speed than tapping and contact modes to avoid

contacting the absorbed fluid layer
APPLICATIONS :

• wide range of applications, from materials

science to biology

• Of the many SPMs, atomic force microscopy

(AFM) - being used most for biomedical research.

• New application : gene therapy

CONTD... :
•Study Unfolding Of Proteins

•Imagining Of Biomolecules

•Force Measurements In Real Solvent

Environments

•Antibody-Antigen Binding Studies

•Ligand-Receptor Binding Studies

•Binding Forces Of Complimentary

DNA Strands

•Study Surface Frictional Forces

•Ion Channel Localization