Method · AFM
Atomic force microscopy in the Netherlands
Nanoscale surface topography and roughness with probe-mode-dependent property mapping. What it answers, what it cannot establish on its own, what a laboratory will ask, and how many Dutch facilities publish it.
What it answers
- What is the roughness of a small area, down to sub-nanometre height differences?
- How high are steps, grains or other nanoscale features?
- Did polishing, deposition or etching change the nanoscale topography?
What it cannot establish alone
- Millimetre-scale areal maps such as a 5 by 5 mm field — a conventional scan is tens of micrometres, not millimetres
- Requirements that prohibit any probe interaction
- Deep or steep features the tip cannot follow
- Anything chemical
Before you contact a laboratory
What a laboratory will ask.
A laboratory can say whether it can help only when these are known. Unknowns are fine; say so.
- Expected lateral feature size and height
- Requested scan footprint and whether it is millimetre-scale
- Expected roughness range
- Whether the surface is flat enough to track
- Whether any probe interaction is acceptable
A question a laboratory can answer
We polish sapphire substrates for thin-film deposition and need roughness over 5 × 5 µm and 20 × 20 µm areas on three substrates, before and after cleaning.
Potential Dutch facilities
13 facilities publish AFM capability in Amsterdam, Delft, Leiden, Enschede, Groningen, Nijmegen, Noordwijk, Petten and Wageningen.
Leads are based on published capabilities; current suitability and availability must be confirmed with the laboratory.
Describe your sample and question. The first answer is free and needs no account; laboratory names are shown in a free workspace.
Often combined with
- Stylus profilometryContact measurement of step height, film thickness, and surface profile.
- Optical profilometryNon-contact areal surface topography, roughness, and step-height measurement.
- X-ray reflectivityThin-film layer thickness, density, and interface or surface roughness from specular X-ray reflectivity.
- SEM with EDXScanning electron microscopy combined with elemental point analysis or mapping.
Problems where it helps
- Coating failure analysis: from symptom to causeHow to analyse a coating that cracks, discolours, corrodes or wears: compare failed and intact parts and test the likely explanations.