conductive

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Application

Though Silicon is conducting in bulk due to the presence of the dopants, the surface of the probe is always coated by a thin (2..4 nm) native oxide film. That's why using the conductivity of Si probes for AFM measurements is only possible in UHV conditions after the film is removed.

For imaging of electric properties of materials in ambient conditions, probes with special conducting coatings are usually used.
Height image obtained in Tapping mode. EFM map of the same area.
Height and phase images of the rubber-modified isotactic polypropylene filled with carbon black. The images were obtained in Electric Force Microscopy mode using NSC14 probes coated with Pt. Images courtesy of S. Magonov (Veeco).

 

Probes

Ti coated
 

Probes with conductive wear-resistant 15 nm Pt coating on tip side with excellent bonding to the Sillicon probe. Resulting tip radius is about 25 nm. Cantilever backside may have optional Al reflective coating.

Ti-Pt coated
 

Probes with overall conductive chemically inert 10-nm Pt coating with 20-nm Ti sublayer on the tip and back side of the cantilever. Resulting probe tip radius is about 40 nm. Cantilever bending withing 3° is possible.

Cr-Au coated
 

Probes with overall conductive chemically inert 20-nm Au coating with 20-nm Cr sublayer on the tip and back side of the cantilever. Resulting tip radius is about 50 nm. The coating may cause cantilever bending withing 3°.


 
Conductive

Probes with special coatings for conductive AFM modes.

15 nm Pt, Rtip~25 nm

30 nm Ti-Pt, Rtip~40 nm

40 nm Cr-Au, Rtip~50 nm
 
 

 

 

 

 
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