Method · AFM
Atomic force microscopy in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany
Local surface topography and height differences measured with a scanning probe. What it answers, what it cannot establish on its own, what a laboratory will ask, and which Dutch, Belgian and German facilities publish it — named, with their sources.
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
- Determine chemical identity from topography alone; chemical analysis needs a separate or specialised coupled method.
- Reproduce every narrow trench or steep sidewall: tip geometry limits access and affects apparent lateral dimensions.
- Represent a whole component with a single small scan; roughness depends on scan size and data processing.
- Guarantee an undisturbed surface when the sample is soft, mobile or poorly attached.
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.
- Material, sample dimensions and the location of the surface to scan.
- Expected roughness, feature height and lateral size, and the requested scan area.
- Whether probe interaction is acceptable and whether the surface is soft, sticky or loosely attached.
- Air or liquid measurement, number of locations and the roughness parameters or step heights required.
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.
Each laboratory below can turn these into an editable enquiry draft. Go to the laboratories
Laboratory evidence · AFM
Laboratories that publish AFM
Named facilities whose official pages describe AFM, each with its source, the dates behind it and what is still unconfirmed. Up to 12 per search, ordered by review level and then alphabetically — not ranked by suitability.
Start typing to see the cities the catalogue holds for this method. The city must match exactly: “Ede” does not find Enschede, and there is no distance search. Changing the method keeps your country and city.
An independent directory, not a booking service. Laboratories are listed from their own public pages. None has endorsed Argentum Field, paid for its position or seen this search.
For every laboratory below, whether it can accept your sample, external work or a booking — and its current configuration, availability, price and turnaround — needs the laboratory’s own confirmation. Cards show only what differs from this.
No source-backed AFM laboratory for Belgium · Diepenbeek.
No laboratory in the catalogue publishes AFM there with an official source. That does not establish that no suitable laboratory exists — the city must match exactly, and the catalogue is not complete.
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.