Multi-tip SPM Substrate for Tip Durability and Image Quality
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current SPM techniques require frequent and time-consuming probe exchanges and relocation for different measurement types, leading to image quality deterioration due to tip degradation during slicing and acquisition scans in techniques like slice-and-view based SPM tomography.
Innovation Solution
A substrate with multiple types of SPM tips, differing in material, shape, or components, allows for performing various SPM measurements without replacing the cantilever, using an inverse setup where the sample is attached to a cantilever and scanned across different tips, enabling simultaneous slicing and acquisition scans with improved tip durability and liquid-environment compatibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the same probe tip is used for both slicing and acquisition scans in scalpel technique, then device complexity is reduced, but tip durability deteriorates quickly leading to image quality decline
Solution Approach 1:
The probe tip is segmented into multiple functional elements: a robust slicing tip for material removal and a separate acquisition tip for high-quality imaging. This segmentation allows each tip to be optimized for its specific function, resolving the contradiction between device simplicity and tip durability.
Solution Approach 2:
The probe assembly is designed with multi-functionality, capable of performing both slicing and acquisition operations. By integrating multiple tip types on a single probe holder, the system achieves universal functionality without requiring frequent probe exchanges, thus maintaining both simplicity and reliability.
2Measurement precision
If frequent probe exchanges are performed for different SPM measurement types, then measurement precision is maintained, but loss of time increases due to complex and time-consuming replacement procedures
Solution Approach 1:
The probe holder is designed to accommodate multiple tip types simultaneously, enabling the same probe assembly to perform various SPM measurement types (AFM, MFM, EFM, SSRM, KPFM) without exchange. This multi-functionality maintains measurement precision across different techniques while eliminating time-consuming probe replacement procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The probe system incorporates dynamic tip selection capability, allowing rapid switching between different tip functions during measurements. This dynamic adaptability enables the system to optimize for each measurement type while maintaining a consistent probe assembly, reducing downtime and maintaining precision.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the cantilever position is changed for different measurement types, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases due to relocation requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The probe holder is designed with universal adaptability to accommodate multiple tip types and measurement configurations without requiring physical relocation of the cantilever. This multi-functional design allows the same probe assembly to perform AFM, MFM, EFM, SSRM, and KPFM measurements by simply changing the active tip, thereby improving versatility while reducing device complexity.
Data Source
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Figure 5a~5b
AI summary
The invention is related to a method for performing SPM measurements, wherein a sample (3) is attached to a cantilever (4) and scanned across a tip. The tip is one of several tips present on a substrate (1) comprising at least two different types of tips (2a,2b) on its surface, thereby enabling to perform multiple SPM measurements requiring a different type of tip, without replacing the cantilever. The at least two different types of tips are different in terms of their material, in terms of their shape or size, and/or in terms of the presence or the type of active or passive components mounted on or incorporated in the substrate, and associated to tips of one or more of the different types (2a,2b). The invention is equally related to a substrate (1) comprising a plurality of tips suitable for use in the method of the invention.