Lubricant Film Thickness Mapping Using a Scanning Capacitance Technique with a Nanoscale Lateral Resolution

SGER奖将支持开发一种新的扫描电容测量技术，用于绘制工程表面的润滑膜厚度图。预计这项技术将能够以纳米级的横向分辨率无损地绘制出小至0.1 nm的润滑剂厚度变化。现有技术仅允许以微尺度的横向分辨率进行测量。所提出的技术在使用单分子厚度的润滑膜的应用中非常有意义。预计，如果成功，建议的技术可以开发用于每年1000亿美元的磁存储行业、新兴微设备行业和其他使用超薄膜的应用的质量控制目的。现有的AFM将改装成扫描电容显微镜模块，该模块将被改进为使用锋利的导电探头进行操作。如设想的那样，测量将包括金属表面的初始常规AFM地形扫描，然后在相同轨道上以电容模式进行扫描，并且尖端在金属表面上方100 nm高度，由地形扫描的输入控制。

An SGER award will support development of a novel scanning capacitance measurement technique for lubricant film thickness mapping on engineering surfaces. It is expected that this technique will allow non-destructive mapping of variations in lubricant thickness as small as 0.1 nm and with a nanoscale lateral resolution. Existing techniques allow measurements only with a microscale lateral resolution. The proposed technique is of great interest in applications where lubricant films of mono-molecular thickness are used. It is expected that the proposed technique, if successful, can be developed for quality control purposes for the $ 100 billion per year magnetic storage industry, the emerging microdevices industry, and other applications using ultra-thin films. An existing AFM will be adapted with a scanning capacitance microscopy module, which will be modified to operate with a sharp, conducting probe. The measurements, as envisioned, will consist of an initial conventional AFM topography scan of the metal surface, followed by a scan in the same track but in the capacitance mode and with the tip at 100 nm height above the metal surface, as controlled by input from the topography scan.