Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published September 9, 2004 | Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Influence of Elastic Deformation on Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube Atomic Force Microscopy Probe Resolution

Abstract

We have previously reported that 4−6 nm diameter single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) probes used for tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) can exhibit lateral resolution that is significantly better than the probe diameter when prone nanotubes are imaged on a flat SiO_2 surface. To further investigate this phenomenon, accurate models for use in atomistic molecular dynamics simulations were constructed on the basis of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and AFM data. Probe−sample interaction potentials were generated by utilization of force fields derived from ab initio quantum mechanics calculations and material bulk and surface properties, and the resulting force curves were integrated numerically with the AFM cantilever equation of motion. The simulations demonstrate that, under the AFM imaging conditions employed, elastic deformations of both the probe and sample nanotubes result in a decrease of the apparent width of the sample. This behavior provides an explanation for the unexpected resolution improvement and illustrates some of the subtleties involved when imaging is performed with SWNT probes in place of conventional silicon probes. However, the generality of this phenomenon for other AFM imaging applications employing SWNT probes remains to be explored.

Additional Information

© 2004 American Chemical Society. Received: May 14, 2004. Publication Date (Web): August 17, 2004. We thank Professor Stephen Quake, Dr. Jordan Gerton, and Ms. Yuki Matsuda for essential discussions. I.R.S., M.J.E., and C.P.C. were supported by Caltech startup funds and by Arrowhead Research. S.D.S. and W.A.G. were supported by NSF-NIRT Grant CTS-0103002, and by the Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation (MARCO) and its Focus Center on Function Engineered NanoArchitectonics (FENA). L.A.W. was supported by the Caltech President's Fund and NASA Contract NAS7-1407.

Attached Files

Supplemental Material - jp047937xsi20040514_032619.pdf

Files

jp047937xsi20040514_032619.pdf
Files (2.0 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:26a383fe58248d81fad0ac1fc9505170
2.0 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 25, 2023