Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T16:43:54.490Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nanoimpedance Microscopy and Spectroscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2011

Rui Shao
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 3231 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Sergei V. Kalinin
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 3231 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Dawn A. Bonnell
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 3231 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Get access

Abstract

One of the key limiting factors in current-based scanning probe microscopies (SPM) is the quality of tip-sample contact and stray capacitance in the probe-surface junction. We conduct impedance spectroscopy over a broad frequency range (40Hz∼110MHz) through an AFM tip to quantify local electrical properties. Equivalent circuit for the tip-surface contact is constructed based on the impedance data and is used to study the mechanisms of relaxation in the near-tip region. Relative contributions of tip-surface contact and materials properties to the signal are discussed. This technique, referred to as Nanoimpedance Microscopy/Spectroscopy, is demonstrated in the imaging of an electronic ceramic: a ZnO varistor. Analysis of impedance spectra allows separation of tip-surface interactions and grain boundary behavior.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Kalinin, S.V. and Bonnell, D.A., in Scanning Probe Microscopy and Spectroscopy: Theory, Techniques and Applications, ed. Bonnell, D.A. (Wiley VCH, New York, 2000).Google Scholar
2. De Wolf, P., Stephenson, R., Trenkler, T., et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 18, 361 (2000).Google Scholar
3. Williams, C.C., Annu. Rev. Mat. Sci. 29, 471 (1999).Google Scholar
4. Macdonald, J.R. and Johnson, W.B., in Impedance Spectroscopy: Emphasizing Solid Materials and Systems, ed. Macdonald, J.R. (Wiley, New York, 1987).Google Scholar
5. Lee, David T. and Pelz, J. P., Rev. Sci. Instrum., Vol. 73, 3525 (2002)Google Scholar
6. Kalinin, S.V., Ph.D. Thesis, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 2002.Google Scholar
7. Tran, T., Oliver, D. R., Thomson, D. J., and Bridges, G. E., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 72, 2618 (2001).Google Scholar
8. Hench, L.L., West, J.K., Principles of Electronic Ceramics (Wiley, New York, 1990).Google Scholar