A novel AFM imaging method based on liquid force-distance curve analysis

摘要

When atomic force microscopy (AFM) systems are employed for scanning tasks in liquid, unexpected nonlinearity caused by laser refraction leads to the distortion of AFM images. A novel liquid imaging method is proposed for high-speed AFM systems. Specifically, imaging signal compensation based on liquid force curve analysis is obtained to remedy the distortion from refraction nonlinearity; and then considering the dynamic characteristics of piezo scanner, which limits the performance of high-speed imaging, the dynamic model of piezo scanner in Z-axis is utilized to improve the AFM's imaging accuracy during high-speed scanning. Experimental results are provided to illustrate the efficacy of proposed liquid imaging method.