Asylum outfits AFMs with thermal-analysis capabilities
-- Test & Measurement World, 6/23/2009 9:00:00 AM
The Ztherm modulated local thermal-analysis option from Asylum Research works with the company's MFP-3D and Cypher AFMs (atomic force microscopes) for materials studies and identification. Ztherm provides highly localized heating of subzeptoliter volumes, achieving a sensitivity of ±10–22 liter. The manufacturer claims this is more than an order of magnitude improvement in volume over previously available commercial systems.
Existing AFM-based thermal-analysis systems experience thermally induced bending of the cantilever, which results in spurious deflection signals and variable loads being applied during heating. Asylum's cantilever compensation and control technique corrects this problem by providing constant-load detection of thermally induced melting, phase transitions, and other morphological and compliance effects for materials studies and material identification on areas of less than 20x20 nm.
In addition to standard thermal-analysis capabilities, the Ztherm package can be used to evaluate contact stiffness and dissipation as a function of temperature using such techniques as dual AC resonance tracking. The contact stiffness and dissipation measured at the cantilever resonance are much more sensitive to temperature-dependent properties, including surface melting and transition temperatures, than conventional deflection-based measurements. Also, integrated piezo actuation allows high-resolution AC imaging of samples for surface topographical mapping before and after thermal measurements.
The Ztherm option is compatible with and includes Anasys Thermalever probes.
Asylum Research, www.asylumresearch.com.
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