CONTINUOUS MICROSCOPY OF CERAMIC MATERIALS WITH ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is established as a powerful tool for th e study of surfaces in materials science. AFM principally offers the p ossibility to image the surface structure in real space continuously f rom macroscopic scale down to atomic resolution. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the ability of AFM for the microstructural characte risation of ceramic materials. Therefore, AFM has been applied for a w ide range of magnification (1,000 to 100,000x). We have investigated p olycrystalline alumina, yttria-doped zirconia and SiC-doped alumina ce ramics as well as a single crystal of yttria-stabilised zirconia. Ther eby, a specific ceramographic sample preparation produces characterist ic nano-scaled surface structures, which are visualised by AFM. The re sults are compared with those of conventional microscopic methods, suc h as optical, scanning electron, high-resolution field emission scanni ng and transmission electron microscopy. Even for small relief heights of a few nanometres being present in etched samples, AFM renders an e xcellent image contrast due to high resolution in vertical direction. Consequently, AFM is a valuable method for microstructural characteris ation of ceramic materials spanning the whole magnification and resolu tion range from optical to transmission electron microscopy.