Circular mode: a new scanning probe microscopy method for investigating surface properties at constant and continuous scanning velocities

Nature of Dynamic Friction in a Humid Hydrophobic Nanocontact

The physics of dynamic friction on water molecule contaminated surfaces is still poorly understood. In line with the growing interest in hydrophobic contact for industrial applications, this paper focuses on friction mechanisms in such interfaces. As a commonly used material, contact with graphite is considered in a twin-fold approach based on experimental investigations using the circular mode atomic force microscopy technique combined with molecular dynamic simulations. We demonstrate that an intuitive paradigm, which asserts that water molecules are squeezed out of a hydrophobic contact, should be refined. As a consequence, we introduce a mechanism considering a droplet produced within the sliding nanocontact by the accumulation of water adsorbed on the substrate. Then we show that a full slip regime of the droplet sliding on the hydrophobic substrate explains the experimental tribological behavior.

Linescan Lattice Microscopy: A Technique for the Accurate Measurement and Mapping of Lattice Spacing and Strain with Atomic Force Microscopy

Lateral resolution and accuracy in scanning probe microscopies are limited by the nonideality of piezoelectric scanning elements due to phenomena including nonlinearity, hysteresis, and creep. By taking advantage of the well-established atomic-scale stick-slip phenomenon in contact-mode atomic force microscopy, we have developed a method for simultaneously indexing and measuring the spacing of surface atomic lattices using only Fourier analysis of unidirectional linescan data. The first step of the technique is to calibrate the X-piezo response using the stick-slip behavior itself. This permits lateral calibration to better than 1% error between 2.5 nm and 9 μm, without the use of calibration gratings. Lattice indexing and lattice constant determination are demonstrated in this way on the NaCl(001) crystal surface. After piezo calibration, lattice constant measurement on a natural bulk MoS₂(0001) surface is demonstrated with better than 0.2% error. This is used to measure nonuniform thermal mismatch strain for chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown monolayer MoS₂ as small as 0.5%. A spatial mapping technique for the lattice spacing is developed and demonstrated, with absolute accuracy better than 0.2% and relative accuracy better than 0.1%, within a map of 12.5 × 12.5 nm² pixels using bulk highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) and MoS₂ as reference materials.

Influence of Lateral Movement on Level Behavior of Adhesion Force Measured Repeatedly by an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) Colloid Probe in Dry Conditions

An atomic force microscope (AFM) was operated to repeatedly measure the adhesion forces between a polystyrene colloid probe and a gold film, with and without lateral movement in dry conditions. Experimental results show that the adhesion force shows a level behavior without lateral movement and with a small scan distance: the data points are grouped into several levels, and the adhesion force jumps between different levels frequently. This was attributed to the fact that when the cantilever pulls off the sample, the contact area of the sample is not exactly the same between successive contacts and jumps randomly from one to another. Both lateral velocity and material wear have little influence on level behavior. However, with a medium scan distance, level behavior is observed only for some measurements, and adhesion forces are randomly distributed for the other measurements. With a large scan distance, adhesion forces are randomly distributed for all measurements. This was attributed to the fact that the cantilever pulls off the sample in many different contact areas on the scanning path for large distances. These results may help understand the influence of lateral movement and imply the contribution of asperities to adhesion force.

Exploring wear at the nanoscale with circular mode atomic force microscopy

The development of atomic force microscopy (AFM) has allowed wear mechanisms to be investigated at the nanometer scale by means of a single asperity contact generated by an AFM tip and an interacting surface. However, the low wear rate at the nanoscale and the thermal drift require fastidious quantitative measurements of the wear volume for determining wear laws. In this paper, we describe a new, effective, experimental methodology based on circular mode AFM, which generates high frequency, circular displacements of the contact. Under such conditions, the wear rate is significant and the drift of the piezoelectric actuator is limited. As a result, well-defined wear tracks are generated and an accurate computation of the wear volume is possible. Finally, we describe the advantages of this method and we report a relevant application example addressing a Cu/Al₂O₃ nanocomposite material used in industrial applications.

Designing topological defects in 2D materials using scanning probe microscopy and a self-healing mechanism: a density functional-based molecular dynamics study

Engineering of materials at the atomic level is one of the most important aims of nanotechnology. The unprecedented ability of scanning probe microscopy to address individual atoms opened up the possibilities for nanomanipulation and nanolitography of surfaces and later on of two-dimensional materials. While the state-of-the-art scanning probe lithographic methods include, primarily, adsorption, desorption and repositioning of adatoms and molecules on substrates or tailoring nanoribbons by etching of trenches, the precise modification of the intrinsic atomic structure of materials is yet to be advanced. Here we introduce a new concept, scanning probe microscopy with a rotating tip, for engineering of the atomic structure of membranes based on two-dimensional materials. In order to indicate the viability of the concept, we present our theoretical research, which includes atomistic modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, Fourier analysis and electronic transport calculations. While stretching can be employed for fabrication of atomic chains only, our comprehensive molecular dynamics simulations indicate that nanomanipulation by scanning probe microscopy with a rotating tip is capable of assembling a wide range of topological defects in two-dimensional materials in a rather controllable and reproducible manner. We analyze two possibilities. In the first case the probe tip is retracted from the membrane while in the second case the tip is released beneath the membrane allowing graphene to freely relax and self-heal the pore made by the tip. The former approach with the tip rotation can be achieved experimentally by rotation of the sample, which is equivalent to rotation of the tip, whereas irradiation of the membrane by nanoclusters can be utilized for the latter approach. The latter one has the potential to yield a yet richer diversity of topological defects on account of a lesser determinacy. If successfully realized experimentally the concept proposed here could be an important step toward controllable nanostructuring of two-dimensional materials.

Sliding velocity dependence of adhesion in a nanometer-sized contact

The influence of sliding velocity on the adhesion force in a nanometer-sized contact was investigated with a novel atomic force microscope experimental setup that allows measuring adhesion forces while the probe is sliding at continuous and constant velocities. For hydrophobic surfaces, the adhesion forces (mainly van der Waals forces) remain constant, whereas for hydrophilic surfaces, adhesion forces (mainly capillary forces) decrease linearly with a logarithmic increase of the sliding velocity. The experimental data are well explained by a model based on a thermally activated growth process of a capillary meniscus.