Atomic force microscopy surface roughness

Tapping-mode atomic force microscopy studies showed that as these hyperbranched PAA films became somewhat less smooth as they increased in thickness through successive grafting stages [24]. For example, a very smooth initial single-crystal Au(lll) surface with a root mean square (RMS) roughness of 0.2 nm (over a 2 xm x 2 im area) had its roughness increased to... 

The obtained PEDOT polymer showed a very good capacity for film formation at a macroscopic level, and very low surface roughness also at a microscopic level, as can be observed in the surface picture of the film obtained by atomic force microscopy (Eig. 7). 

In addition to the electrochemical techniques, many surface analytical techniques are constantly in use, such as ellipsome-try for the surface thin oxide thickness, multiple reflection infrared spectroscopy (MIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for surface layer composition, total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (TXRFS) for the metal surface contaminants, and naturally atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the surface roughness profile. 

The formal potential is determined from the mean of the anodic and cathodic peak potential of the CV in Fig. 51.3. The titanium nitride samples are very smooth. Atomic force microscopy yielded a value of the roughness mean square of 0.516 nm on an area of 5 x 5 pm2. This means that the sample roughness is negligible against the radius of the UME and the working distance in the SECM experiment and the approximation of the sample surface as a simple plane is valid. 

G. Evaluation of Surface Roughness of Si Wafers by Atomic Force Microscopy... 

The substrate surface smoothness is critical to TFT performance. Device fabrication processes basically duplicate and/or worsen the surface roughness, which leads to smaller pentacene grains and results in deterioration of pentacene channel mobility. Atomic-force microscopy was used to characterize the surface roughness. Figure 15.21 shows an AFM image of our PET substrate surface before any process. The mean-square roughness and peak-to-valley roughness are 10 A and 90 A,... 

So far, few authors [7,8] have reported X-ray reflectivity data for nitrides. This technique offers a very precise method of measuring the thickness of layers thinner than about 2000 A and their roughness. With a growing number of nitride samples of a very small roughness, reflectivity will soon become a commonly used characterisation technique. However, one should be aware that the level of surface roughness obtained from reflectivity often does not coincide with the data of atomic force microscopy (AFM) or even optical microscopy. This is because each technique has a different length scale and studies using complementary methods are necessary to obtain a real model of the surface. 

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