Using atomic force microscopy, we have studied the surface structures of high quality molecular beam epitaxy grown (Ga,Mn)As compound. Several samples with different thickness and Mn concentration, as well as a few (Ga,Mn)(As,P) samples have been investigated. All these samples have shown the presence of periodic ripples aligned along the $[1\bar{1}0]$ direction. From a detailed Fourier analysis we have estimated the period (~50 nm) and the amplitude of these structures.
Noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) have become important tools for nanotechnology; however, their contrast mechanisms on the atomic scale are not entirely understood. Here we used chlorine vacancies in NaCl bilayers on Cu(111) as a model system to investigate atomic contrast as a function of applied voltage, tip height, and tip functionalization. We demonstrate that the AFM contrast on the atomic scale decisively depends on both the tip termination and the sample voltage. On the contrary, the local contact potential difference (LCPD) acquired w…
A recent article by Falter et al. (Phys. Rev. B 87, 115412 (2013)) presents experimental results using field ion microscopy characterized tips in noncontact atomic force microscopy in order to characterize electrostatic and van der Waals long range forces. In the article, the tip radius was substantially underestimated at ~4.7 nm rather than ~8.1 nm due to subtleties in the application of the ring counting method. We point out where common errors in ring counting arise in order to benefit future experimental work in which the determination of tip radius by FIM is important.
Intermodulation atomic force microscopy (IMAFM) is a dynamic mode of atomic force microscopy (AFM) with two-tone excitation. The oscillating AFM cantilever in close proximity to a surface experiences the nonlinear tip-sample force which mixes the drive tones and generates new frequency components in the cantilever response known as intermodulation products (IMPs). We present a procedure for extracting the phase at each IMP and demonstrate phase images made by recording this phase while scanning. Amplitude and phase images at intermodulation frequencies exhibit enhanced topographic and material…
The observation of a stable doublet pattern in the field-emission electron microscopy of a linear atomic chain requires a stable mechanism breaking the axial symmetry, which is not identified correctly by Mikhailovskij et al. [Phys. Rev. B 80, 165404 (2009)]. Using microscopic calculations, we attribute the observed pattern to the symmetry breaking produced by the ligand where the chain is attached, plus carbon pi-bonding alternation.
Epitaxial graphene grown on transition metal surfaces typically exhibits a moiré pattern due to the lattice mismatch between graphene and the underlying metal surface. We use both scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) experiments to probe the electronic and topographic contrast of the graphene moiré on the Ir(111) surface. While STM topography is influenced by the local density of states close to the Fermi energy and the local tunneling barrier height, AFM is capable of yielding the 'true' surface topography once the background force arising from the van der Waa…
At submonolayer coverage, Mn forms atomic wires on the Si(001) surface oriented perpendicular to the underlying Si dimer rows. While many other elements form symmetric dimer wires at room temperature, we show that Mn wires have an asymmetric appearance and pin the Si dimers nearby. We find that an atomic configuration with a Mn trimer unit cell can explain these observations due to the interplay between the Si dimer buckling phase near the wire and the orientation of the Mn trimer. We study the resulting four wire configurations in detail using high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (ST…
In this paper we demonstrate atomic-scale lithography on hydrogen terminated Ge(001. The lithographic patterns were obtained by selectively desorbing hydrogen atoms from a H resist layer adsorbed on a clean, atomically flat Ge(001) surface with a scanning tunneling microscope tip operating in ultra-high vacuum. The influence of the tip-to-sample bias on the lithographic process have been investigated. Lithographic patterns with feature-sizes from 200 nm to 1.8 nm have been achieved by varying the tip-to-sample bias. These results open up the possibility of a scanning-probe lithography approach…
Atomic-scale characteristics of surfaces dictate the principles governing numerous scientific phenomena ranging from catalysis to friction. Despite this fact, our ability to visualize and alter surfaces on the atomic scale is severely hampered by the strict conditions under which the related methods are operated to achieve high spatial resolution. In particular, the two prominent methods utilized to achieve atomic-resolution imaging - scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) - are typically performed under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) and often at low tempe…
Atomic resolution imaging is demonstrated using a hybrid scanning tunneling/near-field microwave microscope (microwave-STM). The microwave channels of the microscope correspond to the resonant frequency and quality factor of a coaxial microwave resonator, which is built in to the STM scan head and coupled to the probe tip. We find that when the tip-sample distance is within the tunneling regime, we obtain atomic resolution images using the microwave channels of the microwave-STM. We attribute the atomic contrast in the microwave channels to GHz frequency current through the tip-sample tunnel j…
A simple method to disperse individual single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT ) on an atomically flat substrate is presented. Proper tuning of ac modes of atomic force microscopes(AFM) is discussed. This is needed to discriminate between individual nanotubes and very small bundles. The distribution of lengths of the nanotubes measured by these methods is reported.
We propose a new method to investigate interactions involved in atomic force microscopy (AFM). It is a dynamical method relying on the growth of oscillations via parametric resonance. With this method the second and third derivatives of the tip-surface interaction potential can be measured simultaneously. Because of its threshold behavior parametric resonance AFM leads to sharp contrasts in surface imaging.
Complex oxide interfaces have been one of the central focuses in condensed matter physics and material science. Over the past decade, aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and spectroscopy has proven to be invaluable to visualize and understand the emerging quantum phenomena at an interface. In this paper, we briefly review some recent progress in the utilization of electron microscopy to probe interfaces. Specifically, we discuss several important challenges for electron microscopy to advance our understanding on interface phenomena, from the perspective of variable t…
Friction measurements in the range of several meters per second are still of great interests. With the atomic force microscopy (AFM), the oscilaltion situation of the quartz crystal resonators of 3MHz resonance frequency are studied. And the oscillation speed could reach up to several m/s. Then the friction measurements are carried out on the Fischer Pattern, which is prepared on the quartz crystal resonator. In this article, we present how to measure the oscillation speeds of the quartz crystal resonator and the friction measurements under different designs. Calibration method and the calcula…
This chapter describes the basic design, simulation, and fabrication for fully Si integrated, waveguide coupled, optomechanical force and displacement sensors. The approach of full Si integration of all stationary nanophotonic components with mechanically separated movable components creates the opportunity to independently engineer these two parts for a variety of MEMS and NEMS sensing applications that require high precision, high bandwidth, and small footprint. Further integration of actuators for static and dynamic actuation is also possible.
General energy approaches have been applied to study the single-domain polarization reversal induced by the voltage-modulated Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in ferroelectric single crystals and thin films. Topographic analysis of energy surfaces in the subspace of domain dimensions is performed, and energy evolutions under an external bias are elucidated. This has let to successfully describe all stages of the AFM switching, including formations of a reversed domain, its growth in a bulk, domain contact instabilities near an electrode, and pure sidewise expansions in a film.
This article reviews the progress of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in ultra-high vacuum, starting with its invention and covering most of the recent developments. Today, dynamic force microscopy allows to image surfaces of conductors \emph{and} insulators in vacuum with atomic resolution. The mostly used technique for atomic resolution AFM in vacuum is frequency modulation AFM (FM-AFM). This technique, as well as other dynamic AFM methods, are explained in detail in this article. In the last few years many groups have expanded the empirical knowledge and deepened the theoretical understanding …
It has been shown that electron transitions, as measured in a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), are related to chemical interactions in a tunnelling barrier. Here, we show that the shape and apparent height of subatomic features in an atomic force microscopy (AFM) experiment on Si(111) depend directly on the available electron states of the silicon surface and the silicon AFM tip. Simulations and experiments confirm that forces and currents show similar subatomic variations for tip-sample distances approaching the bulk bonding length.
Zeolites have been used in industrial applications such as catalysts, ion exchangers, and molecular sieves because of their unique porous atomic structures. However, the direct observation of zeolitic local atomic structures via electron microscopy is difficult owing to their low resistance to electron irradiation. Subsequently, the fundamental relationships between these structures and their properties remain unclear. A novel low-electron-dose imaging technique, optimum bright-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (OBF STEM) has recently been developed. It reconstructs images with a…
The formation of various uncommon shaped voids along with regular triangular and square voids in the epitaxial 3C-SiC films on Si has been investigated by optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Heteroepitaxial growth of 3C-SiC films on Si (001) and (111) substrates has been performed using hexamethyldisilane in a resistance-heated chemical vapor deposition reactor. The influence of the orientation of the Si substrate in determining the shape of the voids has clearly been observed. In addition, the growth period and the growth-temperature have been considered as the major parameters to…
Detection of dynamic surface displacements associated with local changes in material strain provides access to a number of phenomena and material properties. Contact resonance-enhanced methods of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) have been shown capable of detecting ~1-3 pm-level surface displacements, an approach used in techniques such as piezoresponse force microscopy, atomic force acoustic microscopy, and ultrasonic force microscopy. Here, based on an analytical model of AFM cantilever vibrations, we demonstrate a guideline to quantify surface displacements with a high accuracy by taking into …
Helium Ion Microscopy is known for its surface sensitivity and high lateral resolution. Here, we present results of a Helium Ion Microscopy based investigation of a surface confined alloy of Ag on Pt(111). Based on a change of the work function of 25\,meV across the atomically flat terraces we can distinguish Pt rich from Pt poor areas and visualize the single atomic layer high steps between the terraces. Furthermore, dechanneling contrast has been utilized to measure the periodicity of the hcp/fcc pattern formed in the 2--3 layers thick Ag/Pt alloy film. A periodicity of 6.65\,nm along the $\…
We combine Z-contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy with density-functional-theory calculations to determine the atomic structure of the Fe/AlGaAs interface in spin-polarized light-emitting diodes. A 44% increase in spin-injection efficiency occurs after a low-temperature anneal, which produces an ordered, coherent interface consisting of a single atomic plane of alternating Fe and As atoms. First-principles transport calculations indicate that the increase in spin-injection efficiency is due to the abruptness and coherency of the annealed interface.
Small-amplitude dynamic atomic force microscopy (dynamic-AFM) in a simple nonpolar liquid was studied through molecular dynamics simulations. We find that within linear dynamics regime, the contact stiffness and damping of the confined film exhibit the similar solvation force oscillations, and they are generally out-of-phase. For the solidified film with integer monolayer thickness, further compression of the film before layering transition leads to higher stiffness and lower damping. We find that molecular diffusion in the solidified film was nevertheless enhanced due to the mechanical excita…
Recent advances in mechanical-diode based ultrasonic force microscopy techniques are reviewed. The potential of Ultrasonic Force Microscopy (UFM) for the study of material elastic properties is explained in detail. Advantages of the application of UFM in nanofabrication are discussed. Mechanical-Diode Ultrasonic Friction Force Microscopy (MD-UFFM) is introduced, and compared with Lateral Acoustic Force Microscopy (LAFM) and Torsional Resonance (TR) - Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). MD-UFFM provides a new method for the study of shear elasticity, viscoelasticity and tribological properties on th…
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in the tapping (intermittent contact) mode is a commonly used tool to measure the thickness of graphene and few layer graphene (FLG) flakes on silicon oxide surfaces. It is a convenient tool to quickly determine the thickness of individual FLG films. However, reports from literature show a large variation of the measured thickness of graphene layers. This paper is focused on the imaging mechanism of tapping mode AFM (TAFM) when measuring graphene and FLG thickness and we show that at certain measurement parameters significant deviations can be introduced in the me…
Atomically resolved images of monolayer organic crystals have only been obtained with scanning probe methods so far. On the one hand, they are usually prepared on surfaces of bulk materials, which are not accessible by (scanning) transmission electron microscopy. On the other hand, the critical electron dose of a monolayer organic crystal is orders of magnitudes lower than the one for bulk crystals, making (scanning) transmission electron microscopy characterization very challenging. In this work we present an atomically resolved study on the dynamics of a monolayer CuPcCl\textsubscript{16} cr…
A machine-learning method for extracting the short-range part of the probe-surface interaction from force spectroscopy curves is presented. Our machine-learning algorithm consists of two stages: the first stage determines a boundary that separates the region where the short-range interaction is dominantly acting on the probe, and a second stage that finds the parameters to fit the interaction over the long-range region. We successfully applied this method to force spectroscopy maps acquired over the Si(111)-(7x7) surface and found, as a result, a faint structure on the short-range interaction …
Recording atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images is becoming increasingly routine. A new bottleneck is then analyzing this information, which often involves time-consuming manual structural identification. We have developed a deep learning-based algorithm for recognition of the local structure in TEM images, which is stable to microscope parameters and noise. The neural network is trained entirely from simulation but is capable of making reliable predictions on experimental images. We apply the method to single sheets of defected graphene, and to metallic nanoparticles…
The interlayer bonding in two dimensional materials is particularly important because it is not only related to their physical and chemical stability but also affects their mechanical, thermal, electronic, optical, and other properties. To address this issue, we report the direct characterization of the interlayer bonding in 2D SnSe using contact-resonance atomic force microscopy in this study. Site specific CR spectroscopy and CR force spectroscopy measurements are performed on both SnSe and its supporting SiO2 substrate comparatively. Based on the cantilever and contact mechanic models, the …
The ability to probe a materials electromechanical functionality on the nanoscale is critical to applications from energy storage and computing to biology and medicine. Voltage modulated atomic force microscopy (VM-AFM) has become a mainstay characterization tool for investigating these materials due to its unprecedented ability to locally probe electromechanically responsive materials with spatial resolution from microns to nanometers. However, with the wide popularity of VM-AFM techniques such as piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) and electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM) there has been …
We show that a scanning capacitance microscope (SCM) can image buried delta-doped donor nanostructures fabricated in Si via a recently developed atomic-precision scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) lithography technique. A critical challenge in completing atomic-precision nanoelectronic devices is to accurately align mesoscopic metal contacts to the STM defined nanostructures. Utilizing the SCMs ability to image buried dopant nanostructures, we have developed a technique by which we are able to position metal electrodes on the surface to form contacts to underlying STM fabricated donor nanostr…
The functional properties of devices based on perovskite oxides depend strongly on the growth modes that dramatically affect surface morphology and microstructure of the hetero-structured thin films. To achieve atomically flat surface morphology, which is usually a necessity for the high quality devices, understanding of the growth mechanism of heteroepitaxial thin film is indispensable. In this study, we explore heteroepitaxial growth kinetics of the SrRuO3 using intermittent growth scheme of pulsed laser epitaxy and ex-situ atomic force microscopy. Two significant variations in surface rough…
Commercial atomic force microscopes usually use a four-segmented photodiode to detect the motion of the cantilever via laser beam deflection. This read-out technique enables to measure bending and torsion of the cantilever separately. A slight angle between the orientation of the photodiode and the plane of the readout beam, however, causes false signals in both readout channels, so-called crosstalk, that may lead to misinterpretation of the acquired data. We demonstrate this fault with images recorded in contact mode on ferroelectric crystals and present an electronic circuit to compensate fo…
We report a systematic study to determine local elastic properties of surfaces combining atomic force microscope (AFM) with acoustic waves which is known as atomic force acoustic microscopy - AFAM. We describe the methodology of AFAM in detail and interpret the measurement using simple arguments and other complementary measurements using AFM.We have used a few selected samples to elucidate the capability of the AFAM technique to map the local elastic constant of the sample surface. Using the force-distance measurement and the change in the frequency of resonance peak at various regions we quan…
The tetragonal to monoclinic (t-m) phase transformation of zirconia has been the object of extensive investigations of the last twenty years, and is now recognised as being of martensitic nature. However, martensitic transformation has only been observed by transmission electron microscopy or indirect methods. Though the benefit on the fracture toughness and crack resistance was the main interest, the transformation is now considered for its consequences on the degradation of the material. The use of AFM reported here allowed the observation of the first stages of martensite relief growth and …
The technique of spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy is investigated for its use in determining fine details of surface magnetic structure down to the atomic scale. As a model sample, the row-wise anti-ferromagnetic Mn3N2(010) surface is studied. It is shown that the magnetic contrast in atomic-scale images is a strong function of the bias voltage around the Fermi level. Inversion of the magnetic contrast is also demonstrated. The experimental SP-STM images and height profiles are compared with simulated SP-STM images and height profiles based on spin-polarized density functional theo…
The local variation in inter-atomic distances, or local lattice strain often influences significantly material properties of nanoparticles. Strain measurement with ~1% precision is provided by recent atomic-resolution electron microscopy. However, the precision has been limited by noises in the experimental data. Here, we have applied one of the data-driven analyses, Gaussian process regression to predict true form of strain. The precision has been improved to be sub-percent of 0.2 % and more for detection of local strain. Rod-shaped nanoparticles have been revealed to contain characteristic l…
We have used a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to study the surface of heavily doped semiconductor InAs crystals. The crystals are cleaved in situ along the (110) plane. Apart from atomically flat areas, we also observe two major types of atomic scale defects which can be identified as S dopant atoms and as As vacancies, respectively. The strong bias voltage dependence of the STM image of the impurities can be explained in terms of resonant tunneling through localized states which are present near the impurity.
The spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) can in principle resolve not only the electronic, but also the magnetic surface structure. We model recent STM measurements achieving magnetic resolution on the atomic scale by a first-principles method. It is shown that the signature of a specific magnetic or non-magnetic STM tip can unambiguously be identified. It is also established that the model of Tersoff and Hamann would yield an electronic as well as magnetic contrast of the surface which is well below STM resolution.
Applying a Keldysh Green`s function method it is shown that hot electrons injected from a STM-tip into a CoSi${}_2$/Si(111) system form a highly focused beam due to the silicide band structure. This explains the atomic resolution obtained in recent Ballistic Electron Emission Microscopy (BEEM) experiments. Localized surface states in the $(2 \times 1)$-reconstruction are found to be responsible for the also reported anticorrugation of the BEEM current. These results clearly demonstrate the importance of bulk and surface band structure effects for a detailed understanding of BEEM data.
The equilibrium sizes of micro- and nano-domains caused by electric field of atomic force microscope tip in ferroelectric semiconductor crystals have been calculated. The domain was considered as a prolate semi-ellipsoid with rather thin domain walls. For the first time we modified the Landauer model allowing for semiconductor properties of the sample and the surface energy of the domain butt. The free carriers inside the crystal lead to the formation of the screening layer around the domain, which partially shields its interior from the depolarization field. We expressed the radius and length…
Epoxy nanocomposites able to meet pressing industrial requirements in the field of structural material have been developed and characterized. Tunneling Atomic Force Microscopy (TUNA), which is able to detect ultra-low currents ranging from 80 fA to 120 pA, was used to correlate the local topography with electrical properties of tetraglycidyl methylene dianiline (TGMDA) epoxy nanocomposites at low concentration of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) ranging from 0.05% up to 2% by wt. The results show the unique capability of TUNA technique in identifying conductive pathways in CNF/resins even without modi…
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has become established as a powerful and a versatile tool for investigating local mechanical properties. In addition, it has been made possible to take advantage of the AFM tip-sample interaction, to perturb, and I turn, to modify the surface of soft samples, such as polymers. The accurate knowledge of their response to the continuous AFM scanning could help to design new materials having desirable mechanical properties. In this paper, we present the results obtained applying a new methodology to investigate wear properties on two different type of polymers, such …
We propose an analytical model for the force-indentation relationship in viscoelastic materials exhibiting a power law relaxation described by an exponent n, where n = 1 represents the standard viscoelastic solid (SLS) model, and n < 1 represents a fractional SLS model. To validate the model, we perform nanoindentation measurements of poylacrylamide gels with atomic force microscopy (AFM) force curves. We found exponents n < 1 that depends on the bysacrylamide concentration. We also demonstrate that the fitting of AFM force curves for varying load speeds can reproduce the dynamic viscoelastic …
The intersection between dislocations and a Ag(111) surface has been studied using an interplay of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and molecular dynamics (MD). Whereas the STM provides atomically resolved information about the surface structure and Burgers vectors of the dislocations, the simulations can be used to determine dislocation structure and orientation in the near-surface region. In a similar way, the sub-surface structure of other extended defects can be studied. The simulations show dislocations to reorient the partials in the surface region leading to an increased splitting wi…
Surface adsorption of C$_{60}$ affects its chemical and electronic properties. Numerous studies have reported observation of bright and dark fullerenes on metal surfaces that suggest extensive surface reconstruction, however, the underpinning mechanism of the reconstruction remains under debate. Here we report tip-functionalised non-contact atomic force microscope (ncAFM) measurements which unambiguously reveal that C$_{60}$ fullerenes adsorb with three well-defined adsorption heights on the Cu(111) surface, consistent with theoretical reports of top-layer hollow site, single-atom vacancies, a…
This paper develops a resolution enhancement method for post-processing the images from Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). This method is based on deep learning neural networks in the AFM topography measurements. In this study, a very deep convolution neural network is developed to derive the high-resolution topography image from the low-resolution topography image. The AFM measured images from various materials are tested in this study. The derived high-resolution AFM images are comparable with the experimental measured high-resolution images measured at the same locations. The results suggest th…
We introduce an in-situ characterization method of resists used for e-beam lithography. The technique is based on the application of an atomic force microscope which is directly mounted below the cathode of an electron-beam lithography system. We demonstrate that patterns irradiated by the e-beam can be efficiently visualized and analyzed in surface topography directly after the e-beam exposure. This in-situ analysis takes place without any development or baking steps, and gives access to the chemical (or latent) image of the irradiated resist.
Magnetic force microscopy (MFM) allows one to image the domain structure of ferromagnetic samples by probing the dipole forces between a magnetic probe tip and a magnetic sample. The magnetic domain structure of the sample depends on the atomic arrangement of individual electron spins. It is desirable to be able to image both individual atoms and domain structures with a single probe. However, the force gradients of the interactions responsible for atomic contrast and those causing domain contrast are orders of magnitude apart - ranging from up to 100N/m for atomic interactions down to 0.0001N…
We present the result of a systematic study of the tribological properties of industrial Polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE)-based coatings carried out with an atomic force microscope. A new characterization protocol allowed the reliable and quantitative assessment of the friction coefficient and adhesion forces at the sub-micrometer scale even for highly corrugated industrial samples. We have studied and compared PTFE coatings charged with different additives in dry and humid environment. The influence of additives and humidity on the friction coefficient and on adhesion forces has been investigate…
A recent report [S. Deville et al., J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 86(12), 2225 (2003)] has shown the new possibilities offered by atomic force microscopy (AFM) to investigate martensitic transformation induced relief in zirconia. In this paper, we studied qualitatively the surface relief resulting from martensitic tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation in yttria and ceria-doped zirconia by AFM. AFM appears as a very powerful tool to investigate martensite relief with a great precision. The phenomenological theory of martensitic crystallography could be succesfully applied to explain all the obser…
We present theory and experiments for the force-distance curve $F(z_0)$ of an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip (radius $R$) indenting a supported fluid bilayer (thickness $2d$). For realistic conditions the force is dominated by the area compressibility modulus $κ_A$ of the bilayer, and, to an excellent approximation, given by $F= πκ_A R z_0^2/(2d-z_0)^2$. The experimental AFM force curves from coexisting liquid ordered and liquid disordered domains in 3-component lipid bilayers are well-described by our model, and provides $κ_A$ in agreement with literature values. The liquid ordered phase h…
The (001) surface of NiO, an antiferromagnet at room temperature, was investigated under ultra-high vacuum conditions with frequency modulation atomic force microscopy (FM-AFM). The antiferromagnetic coupling between ions leads to a spin superstructure on (001) surfaces. Exchange interaction between the probe of a force microscope and the NiO (001) surface should allow to image spin superstructures in real space. The surface was imaged with three different probing tips: nonmagnetic W tips, ferromagnetic Co tips and antiferromagnetic NiO tips - and atomic resolution was achieved with all three …
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) can be used to characterise several aspects of the surface degradation and reinforcement mechanisms of zirconia based ceramics, such as crack propagation, martensitic relief formation, grains pull-out and transformation toughening. AFM can also be used to quantify precisely the transformation and provide reliable parameters for long term degradation prediction. In particular, the tetragonal to monoclinic (t-m) phase transformation of zirconia has been the object of extensive investigations of the last twenty years, and is now recognised as being of martensitic nat…
To visualize the topography of thin oxide films during growth, thereby enabling to study its growth behavior quasi real-time, we have designed and integrated an atomic force microscope (AFM) in a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) vacuum setup. The AFM scanner and PLD target are integrated in a single support frame, combined with a fast sample transfer method, such that in-situ microscopy can be utilized after subsequent deposition pulses. The in-situ microscope can be operated from room temperature (RT) up to 700$^\circ$C and at (process) pressures ranging from the vacuum base pressure of 10$^{-6}…
