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Development and Application of Multiple‐Probe Scanning Probe Microscopes
Author(s) -
Nakayama Tomonobu,
Kubo Osamu,
Shingaya Yoshitaka,
Higuchi Seiji,
Hasegawa Tsuyoshi,
Jiang ChunSheng,
Okuda Taichi,
Kuwahara Yuji,
Takami Kazuhiro,
Aono Masakazu
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201200257
Subject(s) - scanning probe microscopy , materials science , nanotechnology , scanning tunneling microscope , microscope , conductive atomic force microscopy , nanoscopic scale , nanostructure , substrate (aquarium) , nanowire , conductivity , carbon nanotube , scanning capacitance microscopy , atomic force microscopy , scanning electron microscope , optics , scanning confocal electron microscopy , chemistry , physics , composite material , geology , oceanography
In the research of advanced materials based on nanoscience and nanotechnology, it is often desirable to measure nanoscale local electrical conductivity at a designated position of a given sample. For this purpose, multiple‐probe scanning probe microscopes (MP‐SPMs), in which two, three or four scanning tunneling microscope (STM) or atomic force microscope (AFM) probes are operated independently, have been developed. Each probe in an MP‐SPM is used not only for observing high‐resolution STM or AFM images but also for forming an electrical contact enabling nanoscale local electrical conductivity measurement. The world's first double‐probe STM (DP‐STM) developed by the authors, which was subsequently modified to a triple‐probe STM (TP‐STM), has been used to measure the conductivities of one‐dimensional metal nanowires and carbon nanotubes and also two‐dimensional molecular films. A quadruple‐probe STM (QP‐STM) has also been developed and used to measure the conductivity of two‐dimensional molecular films without the ambiguity of contact resistance between the probe and sample. Moreover, a quadruple‐probe AFM (QP‐AFM) with four conductive tuning‐fork‐type self‐detection force sensing probes has been developed to measure the conductivity of a nanostructure on an insulating substrate. A general‐purpose computer software to control four probes at the same time has also been developed and used in the operation of the QP‐AFM. These developments and applications of MP‐SPMs are reviewed in this paper.