D. Yablon
SurfaceChar LLC,
United States
Keywords: AFM
Summary:
Atomic force microscopy provides an inherently mechanical contact between tip and substrate. It is thus primed to measure elastic mechanical properties of materials such as modulus, adhesion, and dynamic moduli on the nanoscale. Significant challenges in both hardware and software still remain for absolute quantitative measurements of these properties. Progress will be reviewed including developments related to acquisition speed, calibration methods, and modeling capabilities. Results from application of these recently improved methods to soft materials will be discussed in the context of remaining challenges that still need to be addressed such as frequency comparisons and uncertainties in cantilever and tip parameters.