IMR: Development of High Speed SPM for Research and Education

扫描探针显微镜自发明以来的25年里取得了巨大的进步，除了一个关键的类别？速度为了解决这一限制，将开发高速表面特性映射（HSSPM），允许以高达每秒10帧的速率进行连续图像采集（比标准系统提高1000倍）。基于商业原子力显微镜和标准的测试和测量硬件，该方法采用了最新的进展与悬臂梁接触共振和高速数据采集纳米级的振幅和相位差在尖端速度接近1厘米/秒。开发过程中的初步应用包括以前不切实际的高温合金和集成电路上的大面积扫描，以及表面动力学研究，如铁电畴成核和生长机制和动力学。这些增强的功能将作为校园用户设施的一部分公开提供，该设施已被50多名学术和工业研究人员利用。此外，HSSPM可以很容易地转移到其他地方，因为它与传统和下一代SPM系统兼容。高速SPM成像增强的交互性将在面向本科生、高中教师和高中学生的新的外展活动中发挥作用，特别是针对科学和工程领域代表性不足的青年群体。在过去的25年里，扫描探针显微镜一直是纳米技术的一种使能工具，它提供了以纳米级分辨率测量和操纵材料的能力。然而，对于更广泛的应用来说，缓慢的操作速度仍然是一个关键的限制，通常每个图像需要4分钟或更长时间。在这项工作中，一个高速SPM（HSSPM）的成像速率提高了几千倍，将开发和安装在校园用户设施。这将允许对表面特性进行近乎视频速率的映射，这对于需要大面积扫描和/或对大量样品进行快速测量的学术和工业研究至关重要。重要的是，HSSPM还将使以前无法实现的材料特性的纳米级动力学研究，包括温度对聚合物复合材料的影响（在汽车部件中越来越常见）和铁电薄膜的最终读/写速度和密度（下一代数据存储材料）。最后，高速成像特别具有交互性，因此将在本科生，高中教师和高中学生的教学和演示中发挥作用，特别是在工程领域代表性不足的群体中。

Technical abstractScanning Probe Microscopy has advanced tremendously in the 25 years since its invention except in one crucial category?speed. To address this limitation high speed surface property mapping (HSSPM) will be developed, allowing continuous image acquisition at rates up to 10 frames per second (1000x improvement over standard systems). Based on a commercial atomic force microscope and standard test and measurement hardware, this method employs recent advances with cantilever contact resonances and high speed data acquisition for nanoscale amplitude and phase contrast at tip velocities approaching one cm/sec. Initial applications during development include previously impractical large area scanning on high temperature alloys and integrated circuits, as well as surface dynamics studies such as ferroelectric domain nucleation and growth mechanisms and kinetics. These enhanced capabilities will be openly available as part of a campus user facility already leveraged by more than 50 academic and industrial researchers. Furthermore, HSSPM is readily transferrable elsewhere as it is compatible with both legacy and next generation SPM systems. The enhanced interactivity of high speed SPM imaging will feature in new outreach activities for undergraduates, high school teachers, and high school students, particularly targeting youth from underrepresented groups in science and engineering. Lay abstractScanning Probe Microscopy has been an enabling tool for nanotechnology over the past 25 years, providing the capability to measure and manipulate materials with nanoscale resolution. However, slow operating speeds remain a crucial limitation for more widespread application, typically requiring 4 minutes or more per image. In this work, a high speed SPM (HSSPM) with a several thousand-fold improvement in imaging rates will be developed and installed in a campus user-facility. This will allow nearly video-rate mapping of surface properties, crucial for academic and industrial research requiring large area scanning and/or rapid measurements on numerous samples. Significantly, HSSPM will also enable previously inaccessible research on the nanoscale dynamics of materials properties, including the influence of temperature on polymer composites (increasingly common in automobile components) and ultimate read/write speeds and densities for ferroelectric thin films (next generation data storage materials). Finally, high speed imaging is especially interactive, and will therefore feature in teaching and demonstrations for undergraduates, high school teachers, and high school students, particularly to reach underrepresented groups in engineering.