Abstract
The role of the cantilever in quantitative Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) is rigorously analyzed. We use the boundary element method to calculate the point spread function of the measuring probe: Tip and cantilever. The calculations show that the cantilever has a very strong effect on the absolute value of the measured contact potential difference even under ultra-high vacuum conditions, and we demonstrate a good agreement between our model and KPFM measurements in ultra-high vacuum of NaCl monolayers grown on Cu(111). The effect of the oscillating cantilever shape on the KPFM resolution and sensitivity has been calculated and found to be relatively small.
Highlights
The effect of the measuring probe in electrostatic force based microscopies, such as Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) [1], is very large because the measured forces are long range
The probe point spread function (PSF) analysis shows that the cantilever has a very strong effect on the absolute value of the measured contact potential difference (CPD) even under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions, and we demonstrate a good agreement between our model and KPFM measurements
For a probe–sample distance of 30 nm, which is frequently used in ambient KPFM, and β = 10°, the cantilever contributes around 60% of the total homogeneous force
Summary
The effect of the measuring probe in electrostatic force based microscopies, such as Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) [1], is very large because the measured forces are long range. In this work we use the boundary element method (BEM) [7] to calculate the point spread function (PSF) of the measuring probe: Tip and cantilever.
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