Abstract: An apparatus and technique for measuring the electrical capacitance between a conducting tip of a scanning probe microscope and a sample surface is described. A high frequency digital vector network analyzer is connected to the probe tip of the cantilever of an atomic force microscope, and data collection is coordinated by a digital computer using digital trigger signals between the AFM controller and the vector network analyzer. Methods for imaging tip-sample capacitance and spectroscopic measurements at a single point on the sample are described. A method for system calibration is described.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
November 15, 2007
Date of Patent:
December 21, 2010
Assignee:
Asylum Research Corporation
Inventors:
Maarten Rutgers, William H. Hertzog, Keith M. Jones, Amir A. Moshar