Numerical simulations of electrostatic interactions between an atomic force microscopy tip and a dielectric sample in presence of buried nano-particles

Arinero, Richard; Riedel, Clément; Guasch, C.

doi:10.1063/1.4768251

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The probing depth of EFM, to first order, is roughly proportional to the product of the dielectric constant ( ɛ ) and the tip–sample distance ( z ), that is, ɛz (refs 50 , 51 ). Taking the dielectric constant of HfO 2 (∼25) 52 and the present experimental parameters ( z =20 nm) into consideration, the probing depth can theoretically reach about 500 nm.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probing nanoscale oxygen ion motion in memristive systems

et al. 2017

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Ion transport is an essential process for various applications including energy storage, sensing, display, memory and so on, however direct visualization of oxygen ion motion has been a challenging task, which lies in the fact that the normally used electron microscopy imaging mainly focuses on the mass attribute of ions. The lack of appropriate understandings and analytic approaches on oxygen ion motion has caused significant difficulties in disclosing the mechanism of oxides-based memristors. Here we show evidence of oxygen ion migration and accumulation in HfO2 by in situ measurements of electrostatic force gradient between the probe and the sample, as systematically verified by the charge duration, oxygen gas eruption and controlled studies utilizing different electrolytes, field directions and environments. At higher voltages, oxygen-deficient nano-filaments are formed, as directly identified employing a CS-corrected transmission electron microscope. This study could provide a generalized approach for probing ion motions at the nanoscale.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probing nanoscale oxygen ion motion in memristive systems

et al. 2017

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“…Firstly, to accomplish the first condition, the force contrast between the matrix and particle/interphase assembly must be detectable. Thus, the contrast Δ F should be higher than the noise of 10 pN for soft cantilevers, typically [ 35 ]. Note that force gradient detection generally shows higher sensitivities than force detection.…”

Section: Results and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of Dielectric Nanocomposites with Electrostatic Force Microscopy

et al. 2017

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Nanocomposites physical properties unexplainable by general mixture laws are usually supposed to be related to interphases, highly present at the nanoscale. The intrinsic dielectric constant of the interphase and its volume need to be considered in the prediction of the effective permittivity of nanodielectrics, for example. The electrostatic force microscope (EFM) constitutes a promising technique to probe interphases locally. This work reports theoretical finite-elements simulations and experimental measurements to interpret EFM signals in front of nanocomposites with the aim of detecting and characterizing interphases. According to simulations, we designed and synthesized appropriate samples to verify experimentally the ability of EFM to characterize a nanoshell covering nanoparticles, for different shell thicknesses. This type of samples constitutes a simplified electrostatic model of a nanodielectric. Experiments were conducted using either DC or AC-EFM polarization, with force gradient detection method. A comparison between our numerical model and experimental results was performed in order to validate our predictions for general EFM-interphase interactions.

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“…The Hudle model allows approximately quantitative analyses on the capacitance and electrostatic force of the tip surface, but cannot guarantee the high testing symmetry and needs to be improved in accuracy by numerical methods. According to the Equivalent Charge Method (ECM), Arinero investigated the nanoparticles filled into dielectric film composites by finite-element simulations, and demonstrated that the electrostatic force detected by a conductive probe can be quantitatively analyzed by ECM independent of film thickness, tip radius and tip-sample distance [21][22][23]. Boularas proved by the finite-element simulations of electrostatic force between AFM tip and dielectric surface that the tip geometry has a great influence on the electrostatic force detection [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing Dielectric Permittivity of Nanoscale Dielectric Films by Electrostatic Micro-Probe Technology: Finite Element Simulations

Sun

2019

Sensors

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Finite element simulations for detecting the dielectric permittivity of planar nanoscale dielectrics by electrostatic probe are performed to explore the microprobe technology of characterizing nanomaterials. The electrostatic force produced by the polarization of nanoscale dielectrics is analyzed by a capacitance gradient between the probe and nano-sample in an electrostatic detection system, in which sample thickness is varied in the range of 1 nm–10 μm, the width (diameter) encompasses from 100 nm to 10 μm, the tilt angle of probe alters between 0° and 20°, and the relative dielectric constant covers 2–1000 to represent a majority of dielectric materials. For dielectric thin films with infinite lateral dimension, the critical diameter is determined, not only by the geometric shape and tilt angle of detecting probe, but also by the thickness of the tested nanofilm. Meanwhile, for the thickness greater than 100 nm, the critical diameter is almost independent on the probe geometry while being primarily dominated by the thickness and dielectric permittivity of nanomaterials, which approximately complies a variation as exponential functions. For nanofilms with a plane size which can be regarded as infinite, a pertaining analytical formalism is established and verified for the film thickness in an ultrathin limit of 10–100 nm, with the probe axis being perpendicular and tilt to film plane, respectively. The present research suggests a general testing scheme for characterizing flat, nanoscale, dielectric materials on metal substrates by means of electrostatic microscopy, which can realize an accurate quantitative analysis of dielectric permittivity.

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Numerical simulations of electrostatic interactions between an atomic force microscopy tip and a dielectric sample in presence of buried nano-particles

Cited by 16 publications

References 20 publications

Probing nanoscale oxygen ion motion in memristive systems

Probing nanoscale oxygen ion motion in memristive systems

Characterization of Dielectric Nanocomposites with Electrostatic Force Microscopy

Characterizing Dielectric Permittivity of Nanoscale Dielectric Films by Electrostatic Micro-Probe Technology: Finite Element Simulations

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