TIP ARTIFACTS IN SCANNING FORCE MICROSCOPY

Since its invention in 1986, scanning force microscopy (SFM) has exper ienced great success as a characterization method for topography on sm all scales. In spite of the enormous potential of the method, it is li mited by the quality of the tip used for probing the surface topograph y. Convolutions of non-ideal tip shapes with the real topography and t ip bending, flexing and jumping effects produce artefacts in the resul ting images. A brief description of the preparation and characteristic s of the most commonly used SFM tips is given. A variety of different artefacts originating from tip properties is presented and illustrated with selected scanning force micrographs. Methods to minimize tip art efacts in SFM images are described.