Atomic Force Microscopy Imaging Reveals Artifacts Produced by Commonly Used Analytical Methods

Abstract

The atomic force microscopy is increasingly being used in analytical laboratories to study material surface phenomena. Whereas its use is not free of artifacts itself, the AFM, because of the ways it produces topography images, can shed some light on problems associated with other analytical techniques. This article describes the use of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in visualizing and evaluating the extent of some well-known artifacts produced by three techniques widely used in analytical laboratories. The three different types of artifacts demonstrated here are caused, respectively, (1) by a stylus profilometer used for topography characterization of the pole tip area of magnetic heads, (2) by an accumulation of an organic contamination caused by a stationary electron beam positioned on an analyzed surface during SEM/EDX analysis, (3) by an enhancement of aluminum grain structure produced by a rastered monodirectional sputtering ion beam during Auger depth profile analysis. The analytical consequences of each of the presented artifacts are discussed. The images were collected on the TOPOMETRIX TX 2000 “Discoverer” AFM, using standard 4-μm pyramidal tips and forces within a few nanometers.