Combined quantitative ultrasonic and time-resolved interaction force AFM imaging

The authors describe a method where quantitative ultrasonic atomic force microscopy (UAFM) is achieved during time-resolved interaction force (TRIF) imaging in intermittent contact mode. The method uses a calibration procedure for quantitative UAFM. It improves elasticity measurements of stiff regions of surfaces while retaining the capabilities of the TRIF mode for topography, adhesion, dissipation, and elasticity measurements on soft regions of sample surfaces. This combination is especially advantageous when measuring and imaging samples with broad stiffness range in a nondestructive manner. The experiments utilize an active AFM probe with high bandwidth and the UAFM calibration is performed by measuring the magnitude of the time-resolved UAFM signal at a judiciously chosen frequency for different contact stiffness values during individual taps. Improved sensitivity to stiff surface elasticity is demonstrated on a special sample. The results show that combining UAFM with TRIF provides 2.5 GPa (5%) standard deviation on the silicon surface reduced Young's modulus, representing 5× improvement over using only TRIF mode imaging.