Quantitative Electromechanical Atomic Force Microscopy

Collins, Liam; Liu, Yongtao; Ovchinnikova, Olga S.; Proksch, Roger

doi:10.1021/acsnano.9b02883

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Quantitative Electromechanical Atomic Force Microscopy

Collins, Liam·Liu, Yongtao·Ovchinnikova, Olga S.·Proksch, Roger

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Abstract

The ability to probe a materials electromechanical functionality on the nanoscale is significant to applications from energy storage and computing to biology and medicine. Voltage modulated atomic force microscopy (VM-AFM) has become a mainstay characterization tool for investigating these materials due to its ability to locally probe electromechanically responsive materials with spatial resolution from microns to nanometers. However, with the wide popularity of VM-AFM techniques such as piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) and electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM) there has been a rise in reports of nanoscale electromechanical functionality, including hysteresis, in materials that should be incapable of exhibiting piezo- or ferroelectricity. Explanations for the origins of unexpected nanoscale phenomena have included new material properties, surface-mediated polarization changes and/or spatially resolved behavior that is not present in bulk measurements. At the same time, it is well known that VM-AFM measurements are vulnerable to numerous forms of crosstalk and, despite efforts within the AFM community, a global approach for eliminating this has remained elusive. Here, we develop a method for easily demonstrating the presence of hysteretic ( i.e. “false ferroelectric”) long-range interactions between the sample and cantilever body. This approach should be easy to implement in any VM-AFM measurement. We then go on to demonstrate fully quantitative and repeatable nanoelectromechanical characterization using an interferometer. These quantitative measurements are critical for a wide range of devices including mems actuators and sensors, memristor, energy storage and memory.

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37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY atomic force microscopy electrochemical strain microscopy hysteresis nonlocal effects piezoresponse force microscopy

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Collins, Liam, Liu, Yongtao, Ovchinnikova, Olga S., Proksch, Roger. 2019-07-03. Quantitative Electromechanical Atomic Force Microscopy. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b02883

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