Noncontact atomic force microscopy: Bond imaging and beyond

It was a long-cherished dream for chemists to take a direct look at chemical bonding, a fundamental component of chemistry. This dream was finally accomplished by the state-of-the-art noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) equipped with qPlus force sensors and carbon monoxide (CO) functionalized tips. The resolved interconnectivity between atoms and molecules in NC-AFM frequency shift images is interpreted as chemical bonding, providing essential knowledge of the bond length, bond angle and even bond order. The featured contrast of different chemical bonds can serve as fingerprints for further interpretation of chemical structures toward unknown species synthesized on surfaces. This breakthrough enriches characterization tools for surface science and brings our understanding of on-surface reactions to a new level. Beyond bond imaging, the application of NC-AFM has been extended to quantifying interatomic interactions, identifying three-dimensional nanostructures, manipulating molecules and reactions, as well as determining molecular electronic characteristics. Moreover, some recent efforts address the improvement of the usability and versatility of the bond-resolved NC-AFM technique, including high-resolution molecular investigation on bulk insulators, application-specific tip modification, stable bond imaging above liquid helium temperature and autonomous experimentation implemented by artificial intelligence.     

Imaging of chemical reactivity and buckled dimers on Si(100)2×1 reconstructed surface with noncontact AFM

We have investigated the force interactions between the Si tip and the Si(100)2×1 reconstructed surface in the noncontact atomic-force microscopy (AFM) measurement. We observed two types of frequency shift curves without and with discontinuity, similar to the Si(111)7×7 surface. The image contrast changes drastically whether the frequency shift curve shows discontinuity or not. In the case of the frequency shift curves without discontinuity, the noncontact AFM images almost reflect the surface topography including dimers and adsorbates. In the case of the frequency shift curves with discontinuity, they reflect strongly the chemical reactivity of surface. Furthermore, in the case of the frequency shift curves without discontinuity, for the first time, the stabilize-buckling of dimers induced by a defect can be observed. This suggests that the force interactions during the noncontact AFM measurement hardly influence the surface dynamics.     

Near-field optical imaging using force detection with new tip-electrode geometry

We propose a new tip-electrode geometry to detect an (optical) evanescent field using noncontact atomic force microscopy. Using a semi-transparent metal electrode on the prism surface, the force sensitivity due to evanescent field in new tip-electrode geometry was enhanced by a factor of about 1000, comparing with that in old tip-electrode geometry where electrode was located behind the prism. Furthermore, this tip-electrode geometry avoids the electrostatic field caused by the residual charges and contact-electrified charges near the prism surface, which affects the force sensitivity due to evanescent field. We demonstrated the high resolution imaging of the evanescent field on the Au film with 15-nm (λ/33) lateral resolution.     

Lead zirconate titanate cantilever for noncontact atomic force microscopy

Noncontact atomic force microscopy with frequency modulation detection is a promising technique for surface observation with true atomic resolution. The piezoelectric material itself can be an actuator and sensor of the oscillating probe simultaneously, without the need for additional electro-mechanical transducers or other measurement systems. A vertical resolution of 0.01 nm rms has been achieved using a microfabricated cantilever with lead zirconate titanate thin film in noncontact mode frequency modulation detection. The cantilever also has a sharpened pyramidal stylus with a radius of about 10 nm for noncontact atomic force microscopy.     

复合材料的超声检测技术 Ⅱ.非接触超声C-扫描技术

本文对于激光超声、干耦合和空气耦合三种非接触超声Ｃ－扫描技术的原理、特点及其在复合材料检测中的应用做了简明介绍。     

Chemical interactions in noncontact AFM on semiconductor surfaces: Si(111), Si(100) and GaAs(110)

Total-energy pseudopotential calculations are used to study the imaging process in noncontact atomic force microscopy (AFM) on Si(111), Si(100) and GaAs(110) surfaces. The chemical bonding interaction between a localised dangling bond on the atom at the apex of the tip and the dangling bonds on the adatoms in the surface is shown to dominate the forces and the force gradients and, hence, to provide atomic resolution. The lateral resolution capabilities are tested in both the Si(100) and the GaAs(110) surfaces. In the first case, the two atoms in a dimer can be resolved due to the dimer flip induced by the interaction with the tip during the scan, while in the GaAs(110), we identify the anion sublattice as the one observed in the experimental images.     

Imaging of atomic-scale structure of oxide surfaces and adsorbed molecules by noncontact atomic force microscopy

Atom-resolved images of a TiO₂(110)-(1×1) surface and individual formate and acetate ions adsorbed on the surface were obtained by noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) in ultrahigh vacuum. In contrast to previous scanning tunneling microscopic studies imaging five-fold coordinated Ti atoms, outermost atoms of bridge-bound oxygen ridges of the surface were resolved as protruding rows by NC-AFM. High-resolution image of the surface revealed that the bridging oxygen atoms on terraces ordered in a (1×1) periodicity. Randomly distributed point and multiple defects of oxygen atoms were also imaged as dark spots. The (2×1) overlayer of formate and acetate ions were resolved as ordered bright spots. Dispersed formate ions at a low coverage were also observed as bright spots between the bridging oxygen ridges along the [001] direction.     

Noncontact blood species identification method based on spatially resolved near-infrared transmission spectroscopy

The inspection and identification of whole blood are crucially significant for import-export ports and inspection and quarantine departments. In our previous research, we proved Near-Infrared diffuse transmitted spectroscopy method was potential for noninvasively identifying three blood species, including macaque, human and mouse, with samples measured in the cuvettes. However, in open sampling cases, inspectors may be endangered by virulence factors in blood samples. In this paper, we explored the noncontact measurement for classification, with blood samples measured in the vacuum blood vessels. Spatially resolved near-infrared spectroscopy was used to improve the prediction accuracy. Results showed that the prediction accuracy of the model built with nine detection points was more than 90% in identification between all five species, including chicken, goat, macaque, pig and rat, far better than the performance of the model built with single-point spectra. The results fully supported the idea that spatially resolved near-infrared spectroscopy method can improve the prediction ability, and demonstrated the feasibility of this method for noncontact blood species identification in practical applications.     

Noncontact measurement of internal temperature distribution in a solid material using ultrasonic computed tomography

Numerical simulations and experiments have been carried out for a noncontact measurement of the internal temperature distribution in a solid material using ultrasonic computed tomography (CT). The method is based on the fact that the sound propagation velocity in a material depends on its temperature as well as its density and structure. From the numerical simulations, the convolution method is found to be an effective algorithm for the reconstruction of the sound velocity distribution. To obtain an accurate temperature distribution, it is found to be necessary to measure the sound propagation time with a resolution of 1 ns. In the experiments, the temperature distributions are measured in an agar-gel cylinder of 40 mm in diameter, along the center axis of which a platinum wire with 0.1 mm in diameter is located. By comparing the experimental results with the theoretical ones, the temperature distribution inside the agar-gel can be reconstructed with an error of 0.1 K, except for the region close to the platinum heater wire where temperature gradient is high. Further, the effects of an obstacle to the sound propagation, such as an acrylic resin cylinder inside the agar-gel, are investigated. Although the obstacles causes a part of projection to be missed, by using a linear-interpolation method to compensate for the incomplete projection, the temperature distribution can be reconstructed well but with a little larger error of 0.2 K, except for the regions close to the platinum heater wire and obstacle.     

非接触法测量锥形光纤直径的研究

锥形光纤作为特殊光纤有许多重要应用,其直径是研究问题中的重要参数,本文讨论了研究锥形光纤直径的目的和意义;对非接触测量锥形光纤直径的各种方法予以总结并讨论各测量方法的优劣,报道了国内外研究现状.