Abstract
Adaptive multiloop-mode (AMLM) imaging to substantially increase (over an order of magnitude) the speed of tapping-mode (TM) imaging is tested and evaluated through imaging three largely different heterogeneous polymer samples in experiments. It has been demonstrated that AMLM imaging, through the combination of a suite of advanced control techniques, is promising to achieve high-speed dynamic-mode atomic force microscopy imaging. The performance, usability, and robustness of the AMLM in various imaging applications, however, is yet to be assessed. In this work, three benchmark polymer samples, including a PS–LDPE sample, an SBS sample, and a Celgard sample, differing in feature size and stiffness of two orders of magnitude, are imaged using the AMLM technique at high-speeds of 25 Hz and 20 Hz, respectively. The comparison of the images obtained to those obtained by using TM imaging at scan rates of 1 Hz and 2 Hz showed that the quality of the 25 Hz and 20 Hz AMLM imaging is at the same level of that of the 1 Hz TM imaging, while the tip–sample interaction force is substantially smaller than that of the 2 Hz TM imaging.
Highlights
In this paper, the adaptive-multiloop imaging mode of atomic force microscopy (AFM) is tested and evaluated by imaging three largely different heterogeneous polymer samples
Compared to the 1 Hz tapping mode (TM) imaging results as the reference the topography error of the polystyrene–low-density polyethylene (PS–LDPE) image obtained using Adaptive multiloop-mode (AMLM) imaging at 25 Hz was 9%, which is 16% lower than that of the 2.5 Hz TM image
The averaged tip–sample interaction force and the tapping-amplitude-ratio error of AMLM imaging at 25 Hz were, respectively, 43% and 31% lower than those of the TM imaging at 2.5 Hz
Summary
The adaptive-multiloop imaging mode of atomic force microscopy (AFM) is tested and evaluated by imaging three largely different heterogeneous polymer samples. The sample topography, tapping-amplitude-ratio error, mean tip–sample interaction force, and phase images are compared.
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