Atomic force microscopy shrinkage

Ellipsometry was used hy Giannoulis et al. [9] to study fihn thicknesses of therapeutic sOicon-based microdevices under development. In situ characterization of the growth of electroactive films of oxides and hydroxides of transition metals has been done with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and intermittent contact atomic force microscopy (ICAFM). Shrinkage and enhanced thicknesses of films can be measured with these methods. Films of iridium oxide, nickel oxides, and polyaniline were studied here. 

The extent of dimensional stability of the part after feature replication was divided into 2 parts. For microfeature analysis, scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM, S-4800, Hitachi, Japan) was used to calculate the differences in the dimensions of the tool and the part. For nano-feature analysis, both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to calculate respectively the width and the depth of the features. Percentage shrinkage in the dimensions of polymer parts was calculated from the SEM and AFM micrographs. The feature morphology and quality of replication was clearly evident from the SEM and AFM micrographs. 

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