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Hi!
I would like to perform IV curves on a certain conductive sample while applying a constant vertical force. I have determined the Young's modulus of the sample to be around 1-3GPa. The fact is that I would like to measure the IV curve while effectively deforming the sample in the elastic regime. To do that, I guess I need a wear resistant AFM tip to be sure that the conductive coating does not break under the exertion of fairly high forces (hundreds of nN) and that contact area remains constant during a series of experiments. DDESP tips seem to be the right choice; nevertheless, the 2.8nN/nm option seems a bit too low to get noticeable deformations and the 40nN/nm is too much. I have not been able to find conductive diamond coated tips with spring constants between these two values. Is there any other tip I should consider to use? could I use a normal metal-coated tip with a spring constant around 5nN/nm despite the wear?
Any advice would be really welcome. Thanks in advance!
Hi Gerard,
If you are looking for wear resistant conducting probes, DDESP is the right choice. Unfortunately, they are available with only 2.8N/m and 40 N/m k. You can use conducting probes with Pt/Ir coating. Pt/Ir coating will not be as hard as diamond but will have significantly better wear resistance than Pt coated ones. Again, Bruker sells only upto k 2.8N/m for these probes.
For your requirement, if it is feasible for you, I would suggest you to buy MPP 33220 with k~ 5N/m and deposit Pt or Pt/Ir yourself on the tip side. If you are willing to go that route, you can email me at rakesh.poddar@bruker-nano.com for thickness recommendations when you are ready to order these probes.
Thanks
Rakesh