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Hello there,
I am currently trying to do some piezoresponse force microscopy on the Icon. The complication is that I am using the Heater Cooler stage and the voltage used for the PFM seems to be interfering with the thermocouple. Does anyone have any experience of this problem or how to overcome it?
Many thanks in advance
Tim
Tim,
You are correct in this.
The quickest solution is to use the regular Icon tip holder (rather than the heated H/C tip holder) to do this measurement. The regular tip holder will enable the PFM, however, you will not be able to heat the tip. This should be no problem if your experiment is at less than 100C; it may be OK if you are going hotter, please try it out.
Let me know,Steve
Hi Steve,
unfortunately this is no good for my experiments as just above 100C, at about 120 or 130C I get condensation onto the tip. I need to go to up to 150C ideally. Do you have any ideas on how I can get around this. Maybe modify the tip holder?
Thanks
Hi Tim,
I am trying to understand your experimental problem. Are you saying that at 130 Celsius you get water condensation on your tip or am I missing something?
Stefan
I have done the procedure the others have described at temperatures above 100C with success. The issue is that you can contaminate your probe can be contaminated with whatever is coming off your surface. It is not yet a procedure we have standardized but we have done it a few times. If you would like to discuss this further please let me know.
Rob
Hello Again,
I would be very grateful of any tips.
Ideally I would like to use the standard tip holder so I can route an AC bias to the tip. The problem is that if I go above around 100C, I get something ( I think water) condensing on to the cantilever and it looses it's reflectivity to the laser.
I was thinking of making a conductive sample holder which is electrically insulated from the heater stage and driving the sample this way. This way I could still use the tip heater.
I would appreciate any ideas you have.
The PFM I have done at temperature has been using high quality MBE grown samples so we did not have much to degas. We have able to maintain a scan across 100C without experiencing too much loss of reflectivity. I was not looking for it so as long as I was getting a good scan I would not have noticed any degradation. You might try degassing your sample for some time with your head far away. Then move the head down and try to engage the surface.
I uploaded a small drawing to my media depicting the wiring change that one would have to do. You can either attempt the change yourself at your own risk or simply order a new tip holder and we can make that change in the factory for you. Your choice. In either case: When combining these measurements you have to control the TAC from its front panel and not from Nanoscope.
860-002-337 Mod for AFM TIP.pdf
Hello Stefan,
it would be great if we could order a modified tip holder from you. How can this be arranged? Any idea how soon I could get this part? Do you have my e-mail address?