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Support Material for VITA Nano-TA utilization

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João Paulo Cosas Fernandes posted on Wed, Sep 23 2015 10:13 AM

Hi, everyone

I'm a PhD student from France and I'm interested in using the Nano-TA mode for local thermal analysis. I use a Dimenson Icon AFM with NanoScope V and a VITA v3.3 software and I have some questions about this mode. Hope you can help me !

1) I have a Bruker Guide from 2011 but I think it's not suitable anymore, since the software version I have is not the same. Is there any user guide for the new version ? I couldn't find it online.

2) At the user guide it's written that we could change from Tapping to Contact mode by changing the feedback from Amplitude to TM Deflection before doing the Ramp for the LTA and then just change back to Tapping to image the sample again. The steps are not very clear for me in the guide, though. Have anyone tried this procedure ?

3) Do you know if there is some Online Training Classes for the utilisation of the Nano-TA mode ? I could only find classes for Peak Force QNM, which helped me a lot also.

Thank you very much for the attention !

Joao

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Yueming replied on Thu, Sep 24 2015 12:50 PM

Hi Joao,

Thanks for contacting us about Nano-TA. To answer you questions:

1. The current manual we have is also from 2011. The operation are still the same, or very similar.

2. VITA tip holder does not have tapping piezo. To operate in tapping mode, you will need to load the contact mode work space, show all parameters (to enable this, click Microsocpe>>configure experiment, then click ok twice to close the window, then right click on the blank space in parameter widnow to enable show all parameter), in Other, set Mode to "Tapping", then in Feedback, set SPM feedback to Amplitude, and Z Moduluation to Enabled, and then the Drive Routing will automatically routed to Z Drive (it is using the Z piezo to drive the Tapping oscillation). If you want to operate in contact mode, then just switch the SPM Feedback to TM deflection.

3. Currently we don't have online class for Nano-TA mode. But we may have this class in the future.

Also, thanks for the good feedback on the QNM online class.

Best regards,

Yueming

 

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Thanks for your answer, Yueming. I might have some other questions for you Smile

I enabled the Z modulation and did the other changes. I can image the sample in Tapping Mode, and I can do the LTA measurements by choosing a spot and scanning it with 1nm, then I adjust the Amplitude Setpoint to touch the surface and put the all the Gain to 0 to disable the feedback. At VITA I click at Ramp and it automaticaly do the measurement and set the amplitude setpoint to a high value, but the gains are still at 0.

Does it mean that the system retracts the probe automatically or I should reset the gains to a nonzero value to make it retract ?

If I use the other procedure, when exactly should I change from Tapping Mode to Contact Mode ? Should I do the scanning at 1nm, change to Contact Mode (does it find the surface automaticaly ?) and then disable the feedback ?

Is it possible to use the Peak Force QNM instead of the Tapping mode to image the sample ? 

How can I control the force I apply at the surface before doing the Ramp ?

Can, and should, I calibrate the deflection sensitivity of the Nano-TA probe with the same procedure for the QNM with the saphirre sample ? As the Nano-TA tips are more expensive than the regular ones, I'm more careful about the utilisation..

I'm sorry for the bunch of questions, but I need to discuss all this with someone. 

Thank you very much for the attention

Best regards,

Joao 

  • | Post Points: 10
Top 500 Contributor
3 Posts
Points 32

Thanks for your answer, Yueming. I might have some other questions for you Smile

I enabled the Z modulation and did the other changes. I can image the sample in Tapping Mode, and I can do the LTA measurements by choosing a spot and scanning it with 1nm, then I adjust the Amplitude Setpoint to touch the surface and put the all the Gain to 0 to disable the feedback. At VITA I click at Ramp and it automaticaly do the measurement and set the amplitude setpoint to a high value, but the gains are still at 0.

Does it mean that the system retracts the probe automatically or I should reset the gains to a nonzero value to make it retract ?

If I use the other procedure, when exactly should I change from Tapping Mode to Contact Mode ? Should I do the scanning at 1nm, change to Contact Mode (does it find the surface automaticaly ?) and then disable the feedback ?

Is it possible to use the Peak Force QNM instead of the Tapping mode to image the sample ? 

How can I control the force I apply at the surface before doing the Ramp ?

Can, and should, I calibrate the deflection sensitivity of the Nano-TA probe with the same procedure for the QNM with the saphirre sample ? As the Nano-TA tips are more expensive than the regular ones, I'm more careful about the utilisation..

I'm sorry for the bunch of questions, but I need to discuss all this with someone. 

Thank you very much for the attention

Best regards,

Joao 

  • | Post Points: 10
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