Reconstruction of an AFM image based on estimation of the tip shape

Abstract

From the viewpoint of mathematical morphology, an atomic force microscopy (AFM) image contains the distortion effect of the tip convolution on a real sample surface. If tip shape can be characterized accurately, mathematical deconvolution can be applied to reduce the distortion to obtain more precise AFM images. AFM image reconstruction has practical significance in nanoscale observation and manipulation technology. Among recent tip modeling algorithms, the blind tip evaluation algorithm based on mathematical morphology is widely used. However, it takes considerable computing time, and the noise threshold is hard to optimize. To tackle these problems, a new blind modeling method is proposed in this paper to accelerate the computation of the algorithm and realize the optimum threshold estimation to build a precise tip model. The simulation verifies the efficiency of the new algorithm by comparing the computing time with the original one. The calculated tip shape is also validated by comparison with the SEM image of the tip. Finally, the reconstruction of a carbon nanotube image based on the precise tip model illustrates the feasibility and validity of the proposed algorithm.

Atomic force microscopy for single molecule characterisation of protein aggregation

“…First, one can use the direct imaging of the tip with scanning or tunnelling electron microscopy (SEM and TEM respectively) [ [129] , [130] , [131] , [132] ]. However, it is difficult to obtain an accurate 3D morphology due to the fact that both SEM and TEM provide 2D projections of a sample, and photogrammetric techniques have to be used to reconstruct 3D images of a tip from 2D images taken for different angles [ 64 , 129 , [133] , [134] , [135] , [136] , [137] ]. In addition, AFM tips can be contaminated (e.g.…”

Selective Pattern Transfer of Nano-Scale Features Generated by FE-SPL in 10 nm Thick Resist Layers

“…Furthermore, due to the tip size, it is also not able to fully penetrate into the etched trench between the two parallel lines. In this work no deconvolution was conducted, but there are different strategies to obtain the real feature after AFM [33][34][35].…”

Establishing proper scanning conditions in atomic force microscopy on polyimide and polyurethane samples and their effect on 3D surface texture parameters

“…Usually, AFM measurements can generate unwanted artifacts on the morphological images (Kühle et al ., ), some of them induced by tip, scanner, vibrations, feedback circuit, or image‐processing software (Braga and Ricci, ) and others induced by nonlinear relationship between cantilever deflection and laser spot movement or nonlinear detector response (Thormann et al ., ). Quantitative determination of the AFM tip shape (Villarrubia, ) is very useful not only to obtain an accurate measurement of the sample surface features (Yuan et al ., ; Wan et al ., ) and a quantification of tribological characteristics (Flater et al ., ), but also to determine the forces (adhesion) and the mechanical properties of surfaces, namely Young's modulus (Chizhik et al .,; Calabri et al ., ). Aside from tip shape, the calibrations for cantilever deflection are necessary.…”