Graphics cards based topography artefacts simulations in Scanning Thermal Microscopy

Synthetic Data in Quantitative Scanning Probe Microscopy

“…Synthetic data were used to create simple structures that could be compared to experimental data, as shown in the figure, and were an important step in validation of the method and moving towards simulations of more realistic structures. A,B) topography and thermal signal on a step height structure, (C) experimental data and result of the FDM calculation using simulated step height structure [36], simulating a single profile. Simulated signal is scaled to match the raw SThM signal coming from the probe and the Wheatstone bridge.…”

“…Additionally, in scanning thermal microscopy (SThM), the topography artefacts can dominate the signal and methods for their simulation are needed [ 36 ]. In Figure 11 , the typical behaviour of the thermal signal on a step edge is shown, together with the result of a finite difference model (FDM) solving the Poisson equation.…”

“…To study them one can create a synthetic surface, run a numerical calculation of the probe–sample interaction and simulate what would be the impact of a particular topography on other data sources. This approach was used for simulation of C-AFM on organic photovoltaics on realistic morphologies similar to experiment [ 35 ], for simulation of topography artefacts in scanning thermal microscopy [ 36 ] and for simulation of impact on lateral forces in mechanical data acquisition [ 37 ].…”

“…Figure11. Topography artefacts in SThM: (A,B) topography and thermal signal on a step height structure, (C) experimental data and result of the FDM calculation using simulated step height structure[36], simulating a single profile. Simulated signal is scaled to match the raw SThM signal coming from the probe and the Wheatstone bridge.…”

Quantitative Mapping of Nanothermal Transport via Scanning Thermal Microscopy

“…As computing power increased drastically, it is now possible to create complex FE models including sophisticated geometries assigning various materials to different regions. For example, the full probe-sample system can be modelled, for example, to study radiation thermal transport [93], immersion SThM and probe sensitivity in various environments [50,88], time-constant of the probe and tip-sample resistance [65] or even topography-related arterfacts [97]. Thus FE modelling is becoming a necessary tool for investigating tip-sample systems complementary to analytical analysis as it handles difficult geometries and multiphysical problems.…”