Three-dimensional drift correction of scan data from atomic force microscopy using Lissajous scanning paths

Abstract

Non-raster scanning is being widely used to increase the scanning speed of atomic force microscopes (AFMs). However, like any other AFM scanning techniques, non-raster scanning can also suffer from drift during the scanning process. This paper presents a simple novel method based on cross-correlation for the effective drift correction of non-raster Lissajous AFM scans with intersecting paths. The drift in x, y and z axes can be determined using the crossing points and repeated scans of the same features. In this paper, the general method is presented together with experimental results using Lissajous scans of two artifacts, which demonstrate that the drift in the three axes and the additional tilt can all be corrected resulting in significant improvement in the image obtained. Our drift correction method can overcome the limitations of the existing AFM drift correction methods which are usually based on extra scanning, and it exploits the crossing scan paths and four scanning cycles inherent in Lissajous scanning without using additional scans to effectively determine the three-dimensional drift using cross-correlation and least squares techniques. The drift correction method can be used with any AFMs capable of Lissajous scanning.