Multimode Scanning Ion Conduction Microscope With Piezo-Inertial Moving System

Abstract

A scanning ion conductance microscope (SICM) has been developed, operating in several modes: DC mode, current modulation mode, and hopping mode. SICM employs a piezoelectric-inertial movement system. The nanoprobes, in the form of glass nanopipettes with an internal radius of r ~ 50 nm, have been created and tested. The current-voltage characteristics I (V) and current dependences on the distance between the probe and the sample I (z) (approach/withdrawal curves) were measured. Images of a polymeric test object with a periodic structure and a biological object (CHO cell) were obtained, their quality was assessed, and the features of the SICM operation in various modes are discussed. The multimode SICM provides non-destructive, non-contact visualization of soft objects in a liquid conducting medium with nanometer spatial resolution in various measuring modes and can be used in biology, cytology, electrochemistry, and medicine when studying inorganic soft objects, biological objects in buffer media, etc.