Fyzikální ústav Akademie věd ČR

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) laboratory uses the Explorer Model microscope by Thermomicroscopes, USA. This device helps us to get 3D information about the sufaces of materials studied. The image is composed by point after point detecting the movements of the measuring tip. The method is non-contact, the sample and tip are in interatomic interaction (van der Waals forces). The detection of the tip’s movements is performed by a laser beam reflection registered by a photodetector.

In Structure Analysis Department the AFM Labratory has years of tradition and it cooperates with a line of mostly technological goups in Institue of Physcs and other scientific institutions as well. Among the materials studied there were metllic alloys (influence of various types of deformation on the structure of the surface), nanodiamond layers, quantum dots, microcrystalline Si layers, optoelectric crystals and various glasses in interaction with radiation, among the unpublished results there is for example the cooperation in the studies of etching speed and influence of various types of masks on the resulting structure of semiconductor elements.

Explorer AFM. For various area sizes our Explorer AFM is equipped with two interchangable dry scanners - 100 x 100 μ m XY, 10 μ Z max. and 2.5 x 2.5 μ XY, 0.8 μ Z max.; independent of the size of the area studied the typical resolution is 200 x 200 points.

Topography of μc-Si:H samples changing with silane concentration, where decreasing concentration of silane in hydrogen leads to change from amorphous to crystallic surface of samples.