EFFECTS OF NOISE AND ANISOTROPY ON THE DETERMINATION OF FRACTAL DIMENSIONS

Measurement of the fractal dimension of surfaces imaged by the scannin g tunnelling microscope, atomic force microscope or similar instrument s can be performed using several different algorithms. Dimensional ana lysis-plots of log (perimeter) vs. log (area)-are compared to Korcak a nd slit-island methods, which also employ a horizontal plane section, and to Fourier analysis of the two-dimensional array of elevation valu es. The effects of surface anisotropy and instrument noise on each of these measurement techniques is investigated.