The Nanoscale World

October 2011, Issue 3 - Product Innovations. The World's Fastest AFM - Dimension FastScan

rated by 0 users
This post has 0 Replies | 0 Followers

Posted: Thu, Oct 20 2011 1:49 PM
Nanovations newsletter
October 2011, Issue 03

Product Innovations - Industry Leaders are Talking Dimension FastScan

The Dimension FastScan improves imaging speed without sacrificing nanoscale resolution, enabling users to work hundreds of times faster than is possible with other commercial AFM systems and delivering results in seconds or minutes instead of hours or days. Industry leaders are taking notice.

Professor Paul Hansma, Co-Chair of Physics Dept., UCSB, and pioneer of AFM instrumentation, remarked, “The recent development of high-speed AFM by Bruker is a real breakthrough. I am impressed by Bruker's commitments in research and development to bring this to the AFM community.”

In conjunction with other recent Bruker AFM technological breakthroughs, such as ScanAsyst™ and PeakForce QNM™, FastScan delivers significant improvements in productivity as well as enabling techniques that provide new quantitative information at the nanoscale, and that make AFMs easier to use by academia and industry alike.

“The development of the recent high-speed AFM by Bruker is a real breakthrough,” agreed Professor Christoph Gerber, Director for Scientific Communication of the NCCR Nanoscale Science at the Institute of Physics, University of Basel, Switzerland, and co-inventor of atomic force microscopy. "It has opened the door to the next revolution of nanoscience, particularly in new areas such as structural biology.”

See the Great Things Happening with Dimension FastScan

BR self-assembles into Purple Membrane patches on a mica surface under the right buffer conditions.

The movie shows the dynamic edge of two adjacent patches, integration of small patches, and the addition of further BR during continuous imaging. The data was obtained by the combined capability of low amplitude (2nm) Peak Force Tapping™ (PFT) in fluid, and the increased imaging bandwidth enabled by the Dimension FastScan AFM, and small Broadband cantilevers.

  • PFT achieved resolution typical for Contact Mode, and beyond TappingMode
  • PFT simplified force control, due to it’s immunity to thermal force drift
  • FastScan speed enabled the study of sample dynamics

The combination of fast, high resolution imaging, multi-sample automation, SmartEngage, and ScanAsyst® based feedback self-optimization enables a new level of productivity in a number of research and development applications. This new capability can be used to search for samples with certain properties, or (in combination with the 25MPixel capability) for high data content survey runs of e.g., 25 samples overnight. It also lends itself to multi-sample screening of nanoscale properties, e.g., in polymer or pharma formulation, and is well adapted for technician-operated lab environments.

This video of a 1um, 512x512, 23Hz scan of Celgard® oriented Polypropylene membrane (TappingMode™, Broadband-A Probe) is a good indicator of AFM force control: tracking error would cause lateral forces to separate and damage the smaller strands. This demonstration is over twice as fast as an earlier released 10Hz video. Additionally the Celgard® is demonstrated with the mesh oriented a couple different ways, here shown perpendicular to the scan direction.

This is a 1um x 1um image, 256 line, taken AT 100HZ. The frame rate is 2.5 seconds. What you can see in the movie is the detail of the lamella forming as the crystallization front moves to the left. We can also see how the lamella move around and incorporate defects.  At the 0.29 second mark you can see the two fronts coming towards each other, passing over defects, sometimes incorporating them, sometimes not. You can also see how when the lamella pass this larger defect that some terminate while others go around. Ultimately, the two fronts join, and in some regions the lamella join, and in others an interface is created.

In-situ recording of a 5nm thick polystyrene film (molecular weight 4.2 kg/mol) de-wetting a hydrophobic Si wafer at 55, 65 and 75-Degree C.

The experiment is conducted in air, on top of a Dimension heater/cooler. When the sample temperature passes the polymer’s glass transition temperature (Tg), it starts to behave like a viscous fluid. The de-wetting process can now be observed. The speed of the process is temperature dependent. De-wetting always involves the formation of holes in the film, which grow and join, leaving linear structures which finally rupture and form droplets.

About FastScan

The Dimension FastScan system utilizes a revolutionary XYZ closed-loop head that scans at high-speed rates while delivering extremely low drift and low noise to make AFM easier to use and more productive for all users. These features combine to drastically cut stabilization times, allowing the system to acquire artifact-free data hundreds of times faster than is possible with any other AFM on the market. A new fast scanner, a high-resolution camera, as well as automated laser and detector alignment, and integrated feedback alignment tools deliver faster probe positioning and sample navigation, thus allowing users to more easily locate features of interest. Finally, the software offers an intuitive workflow, while default experiment modes distill advanced AFM processes into preconfigured settingwws. Whether using the Icon scanner with ultra-low noise and high accuracy to render sub-nanometer resolution and <30pm vertical noise, or employing the FastScan scanner for high scan rates with nanometer resolution and <40pm vertical noise, the unique Dimension FastScan system expands laboratory and industrial nanoscale microscopy capabilities beyond that of any other single research instrument.

For a demonstration call +1.805.967.1400/800.873.9750, or email your questions to productinfo@bruker-nano.com. Be sure to check out the FastScan Video at www.bruker.com/fastscan.

 
Innovation with Integrity
Page 1 of 1 (1 items) | RSS
Copyright (c) 2011 Bruker Instruments