Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2011
Progress is reported in developing reliable methodology for imaging silicon surfaces with the atomic force microscope (AFM). A new form of AFM, known as tapping mode AFM, has been found to provide the best quality data for surface roughness determinations. Commercially available colloidal gold spheres have been used to fabricate tip characterization standards and are used to report tip size with roughness data. Power spectral density calculations are shown to provide a useful roughness calculation based on lateral wavelength.