Overview
Projects
AFM Modes
Documentation
The Agilent 5500 AFM/SPM microscope offers numerous unique features, such as patented top-down scanning and unrivalled environmental and temperature control, while providing maximum flexibility and modularity. The universal microscope base permits easy integration with an environmental chamber and inverted optical microscope. Sample preparation is made easy with our unique sample plates designed for imaging in fluids.
A top-down optical axis through the scanner allows an unobstructed view of the cantilever and the sample without sacrificing sample handling. The scanner’s modular nose cone makes changing imaging modes quick and easy. The Keysight 5500 SPM/AFM is a high performance system that facilitates advanced applications solutions. It offers atomic resolution and is ideal for electrochemistry, polymers, and soft material applications.
The AFM has been used in numerous projects:
- Corrosion Control for Naval Ships : European Defence Agency project ‘Corrosion Control for Naval Ships', Southampton is tasked to develop smart corrosion protection for marine structures using multifunctional coating systems.
Papers produced from AFM:
- Frictional properties of self-adaptive chromium doped tungsten–sulfur–carbon coatings at nanoscale
- Quantification of molecular interactions between ApoE, amyloid-beta (Aβ) and laminin: Relevance to accumulation of Aβ in Alzheimer's disease
- Nanotribology of transition metal dichalcogenide flakes deposited by chemical vapour deposition: The influence of chemical composition and sliding speed on nanoscale friction of monolayers
- Friction Force Microscopy Analysis of Self-Adaptive W–S–C Coatings: Nanoscale Friction and Wear
- Polymer brush lubrication of the silicon nitride–steel contact: a colloidal force microscopy study
Our 5500 AFM/SPM microscope has a number of modes that can be used and these include:
- Contact Mode
- Intermittent Contact Mode (commonly referred as ‘tapping’)
- Lateral Force Microscopy (LFM)
- Magnetically Actuated AFM (MAC Mode)
- Electric Force Microscopy (EFM)
- Kelvin Force Microscopy (KFM)
- Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM)
Contact and intermittent contact are topographical imaging modes, where contact mode is used for hard surface and intermittent contact for soft surfaces. In LFM the scanning is perpendicular to cantilever (and normal scanning direction), this cause the cantilever to twist and this deflection is related to the friction force between the tip and the surface. MAC mode is special mode specially designed for working with biological materials, particularly with the liquid cell. MFM is used to image various magnetic structures on surfaces. EFM and KFM employ a conductive AFM tip that interacts with the sample according to the sample’s electrostatic characteristics. EFM is an imaging technique that maps the electric field emanating from the sample surface. KFM maps the variation of the contact potential between the tip and the sample. More details can be found in the AFM Almanac.
The Agilent 5500 AFM has a number of useful documentation and these can be downloaded at the link below.