Dimensional comparison between amplitude-modulation atomic force microscopy and scanning ion conductance microscopy of biological samples

Abstract

The range of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) applications for atomic force microscopy (AFM) is expanding in the biological sciences field, reflecting an increasing demand for tools that can improve our fundamental understanding of the physics behind biological systems. However, the complexity associated with applying SPM techniques in biomedical research hampers the full exploitation of its capabilities. Recently, the development of scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) has overcome these limitations and enabled contact-free, high resolution imaging of live biological specimens. In this work, we demonstrate the limitation of AFM for imaging biological samples in liquid due to artifacts arising from AFM tip–sample interaction, and how SICM imaging is able to overcome those limitations with contact-free scanning. We also demonstrate that SICM measurements, when compared to AFM, show better fit to the actual dimensions of the biological samples. Our results highlight the superiority of SICM imaging, enabling it to be widely adopted as a general and versatile research tool for biological studies in the nanoscale.