In:
Surface and Interface Analysis, Wiley, Vol. 32, No. 1 ( 2001-08), p. 275-277
Kurzfassung:
The imaging process with atomic force microscopy (AFM) in air is influenced by many factors, such as tip size and geometry, scan speed, ambient humidity, etc. In an ambient environment the imaging can be affected greatly by the humidity of the atmosphere because of the formation of the meniscus along the tip‐sample interface. The capillary force between the tip and the sample is generally large enough to make it difficult to obtain a high‐resolution image, therefore it is necessary to eliminate this capillary in order to obtain improved images. To this end, we modified tips with CH 3 ‐terminated organosilane to make them hydrophobic. With such tips we obtained (in AFM/LFM mode) improved images of soft materials such as the water layer and the self‐assembled monolayer (SAM). For octadecantrichlorosilane (OTS) SAM chemisorbed on mica, high‐resolution lattice‐resolved images also were collected. The results demonstrated that these hydrophobic tips were suitable for obtaining improved images. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Materialart:
Online-Ressource
ISSN:
0142-2421
,
1096-9918
Sprache:
Englisch
Verlag:
Wiley
Publikationsdatum:
2001
ZDB Id:
2023881-2
