Optical interference artifacts in contact atomic force microscopy images.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Surface Science
• Metrology

Background:

• Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) images are susceptible to artifacts from microscope design, operation, and environment.
• Optical interference, caused by laser light reflections, is a common source of height artifacts in AFM, particularly on reflective surfaces.
• These artifacts can significantly impact the accuracy of surface roughness measurements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate optical interference artifacts in AFM images.
• To assess the influence of these artifacts on surface roughness measurements.
• To develop and validate a method for removing interference artifacts from AFM images.

Main Methods:

• AFM imaging of a highly polished stainless steel planchet to induce interference patterns.
• Analysis of artifact influence on surface roughness measurements.
• Application of a semi-quantitative method based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) for artifact removal.

Main Results:

• Interference patterns were successfully obtained and analyzed.
• The proposed FFT-based method demonstrated effectiveness in removing optical interference artifacts.
• Artifact removal using FFT improved the accuracy of surface roughness measurements compared to standard flattening techniques.

Conclusions:

• Optical interference is a significant artifact source in AFM, affecting roughness analysis.
• The FFT-based method provides an effective approach for correcting these artifacts.
• This technique enhances the reliability of AFM for precise surface characterization.