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Research Group of Gerd-Uwe Flechsig


Atomic Force Microscopy

1. The Instrument

We operated our first atomic force microscope at the University of Rostock. This was funded by the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and we are very grateful for this support! Several undergraduate research projects have been conducted using this equipment, resulting in publications.
SUNY Albany, however, provides even better AFM instrumentation.


AFM lab


The microscope in Rostock was a Nomad SPM from Quesant (USA), with an active vibration damping platform.

AFM-Vibration-damping

 


The scan head comprising the piezo tube and the cross shaped cantilever holder is displayed in the next figure:

AFM-Vibration-damping

 



2. Examples of Research with the AFM

We use the AFM to study the surface of our heated electrodes in the nano scale. Here is, e.g, a topographic image of a sputtered gold film on a ceramic substrate.

AFM image of sputtered Au

 

The following figure depicts AFM images of a gold LTCC electrode (low temperature cofired ceramics, above). Two images of a sputtered gold layer before and after annealing at 600 °C are displayed below.

Au-Keramik

 

By means of a sputtering device, bismuthfilms can be deposited onto glass or ceramic substrates. These metal films are also used as electrochemical sensors:

 
 



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Last Update: September 2, 2014