Nano-scaled Measurements

IMEP-LAHC has 2 AFMs (Atomic Force Microscopy) :

IMEP-LaHC is getting equipped with a new powerful Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)
Remind that the principle of this equipment is based on the point by point analysis of a nano object, thanks to the move of a probe similar to a 10 nm-radius tip.


This observation mode allows the mapping of  the topology and some physical parameters of different types of solid samples with low roughness (Semiconductor, conductor, insulator with a roughness ( < 10nm), and this with a very high spatial resolution. It is also possible to analyse locally different physical and electrical values (force curve, capacitance, current…).
Installed since the beginning of October 2018, the new AFM of IMEP-LaHC goes further by proposing two original functionalities:
 

1. First, the “Data Cube” mode, which allows simultaneously the acquisition of electrical and physical measurements all over the surface of the sample.
   “It is now possible to capture quickly and simultaneously the electrical and mechanical characteristics of the studied sample, which can be also mapped in terms of current, voltage, force curve, and so on.”, explains Xavier Mescot, in charge of the electrical and physical characterization platform of IMEP-LaHC.
    
2. Second originality: the SMIM module (Scanning Microwave Impedance Microscopy), which is capable to analyse the reflexion of an incident signal at 3 GHz through the sample and to extract in only one and fast measurement, the local resistivity and capacity, with an approximately spatial resolution of 50 nm. Thus, the SMIM mode allows realizing capacitance spectra which is quite impossible to obtain with the classic electrical modes of an AFM. 

These options, only available on 2 or 3 laboratories in France, are going to open new horizons on the knowledge of the local and physical phenomena in micro and nano objects such as thin films, nanowires and 2D materials.
Our new AFM will be available to external teams in the context of the FMNT platform  (OPE)N(RA  ).

OPTICAL HEAD

DARK BOX

 

  Classical topography modes
(Tapping and Contact),
plus electrical modes (EFM, SCM, TUNA, C-AFM)