infocus #63 September 2021 Automated Nanoscale Quality Control For Reliable, Artifact-free Atomic Force Microscopy

Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) users need to acquire the best high-resolution images and the most reliable and consistent data possible. To do this, they need highly accurate and precise AFM probes. Any defect to the probe’s nanoscale tip will result in imaging artifacts and inconsistent data – and there is a chance the AFM researcher won’t even realise it, resulting in lost time and resources.

DOI: 10.22443/rms.inf.1.208

Full inspection of every AFM tip at the nanoscale is a critical, yet impossible task to do manually. NuNano has customised a TESCAN Field-emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) to automate this process. This article discusses the importance of high-quality control of AFM probes and reviews the different types of tips and
their applications.

Return to listing

Author

James Vicary

Managing Director, NuNano, Bristol

About the author James is Managing Director of NuNano, a UK-based company specialising in the design and manufacture of probes for atomic force microscopy (AFM) and cantilever-based sensor devices. He started out in the field of atomic force microscopy during his PhD in the Scanning Probe Microscopy group in the School of Physics at the University of Bristol, under the supervision of Prof. Mervyn Miles. His work focused on the use of high-speed AFM for nanofabrication. During his postdoc, also at Bristol, he transitioned from using AFM to designing and fabricating unique AFM probes for new AFM instrumentation being developed by his colleagues. This led to James and his co-founders forming NuNano to bring new probe designs to the wider AFM community.