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Hello every one,
I am working on the phase imaging of the thin DLC coatings on the silicon (roughnees of about 2 nm). The AFM machine is Dimension 3100 and the tip is NCHV (available in the lab).
I have notice that it is so difficult to have a crystal clear phase images with this kind of tip.
Even after a few times of using, the phase graph in tuning section has been changed.
Should I try other kind of tip like sharp tips?
I would appreciate any comments or ideas about this matter?
Have a great day,
Ranna
Hi Ranna,
I am not sure what exactly you expect to see in the phase image of a (nominal) uniform sample?
NCHV or TESP are nice tips for Tapping Mode imaging, so nothing wrong here except maybe that I would get the high reflectivity version of those tips next time, NCHVA or TESPA. There is simply not a reason not to for ambient imaging. How does your topography and amplitude error channels look like? Are they "clean" or do you see streaks/jumps or noise?
Stefan
I was only asking for the amplitude error channel to see if there was some noise on your system which does not appear to be the case. It might well be that you are wearing your tips rather quickly. Did you try softer tapping or simply scanning a bit slower?
The NCHV tips are already pretty sharp and I doubt that a sharper tip will help as you mention yourself that tip wear might be an issue. I am also not sure why you scan such a small range. One set of tips that might be worthwhile trying are FESPA tips. If you write BRUKER AFM Probes they can send you a sample set to try out.
Regards,
Hello Stefan,
Thanks for your reply
Actually, the topography one is clear as well as the amplitude one. Although in DLC coatings usually there is not much difference between pictures coming out of height and amplitude channels.
But during the tunning, there are some noise and/or sudden steps in phase graph not in the amplitude one, which after finishing the tuning it disappeared. This condition is not applied for very new tips.
As you probably know DLC is a mixture of graphite and diamond. For phase image, the intention is to check the possibility of taking the map of that mixture due to difference in mechanical properties.
Does the sharper tips can bring more resolution on 200nm*200nm picture? So, what is your idea about this?