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Note: Electrical resolution during conductive atomic force microscopy measurements under different environmental conditions and contact forces

2010; American Institute of Physics; Volume: 81; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1063/1.3491956

1527-2400

Mario Lanza, M. Porti, M. Nafrı́a, X. Aymerich, E. J. W. Whittaker, B. Hamilton,

Mechanical and Optical Resonators

Conductive atomic force microscopy experiments on gate dielectrics in air, nitrogen, and UHV have been compared to evaluate the impact of the environment on topography and electrical measurements. In current images, an increase of the lateral resolution and a reduction of the conductivity were observed in N(2) and, especially, in UHV (where current depends also on the contact force). Both effects were related to the reduction/elimination of the water layer between the tip and the sample in N(2)/UHV. Therefore, since current measurements are very sensitive to environmental conditions, these factors must be taken into consideration when comparisons between several experiments are performed.