Improved Scanning Speed of AFM Subresonant Tapping Mode with Switched Dual-Actuator Control

Subresonant Tapping (SRT) mode has become a preferred mode for compositional imaging of materials with atomic force microscopes (AFM). SRT mode balances speed and accuracy, being faster than force-volume mode while more precisely controlling the maximum indentation force than conventional tapping mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Echols-Jones, Piers M., Dokukin, Maxim E., Sokolov, Igor, Messner, William C.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuators
Force
Image quality
Measurement
Tuning
Online Access:Request full text
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Description
Summary:Subresonant Tapping (SRT) mode has become a preferred mode for compositional imaging of materials with atomic force microscopes (AFM). SRT mode balances speed and accuracy, being faster than force-volume mode while more precisely controlling the maximum indentation force than conventional tapping mode. However, SRT is still too slow for many commercial and potential clinical applications. This paper demonstrates substantially increased speed of AFM imaging in SRT mode by using the switched dual-actuator control (SDA) method. This method can be implemented using inexpensive add-on hardware for AFMs, previously described by the authors. The described system using SDA control is at least four times faster than the commercial SRT mode provided by the manufacturer without the SDA upgrade.
ISSN:2378-5861
DOI:10.23919/ACC.2018.8431164