THE USE OF A POLYMER FILM TO ESTIMATE AFM PROBE PROFILE

During our investigation of the surface morphology of various polyethy lene glycol methacrylate copolymers we found that the rapid drying of a chloroform solution of a poly(methyl methacrylate-co-polyethylene gl ycol methacrylate) polymer resulted in the generation of a surface cha racterised by many sharp sided holes in a flat polymer matrix, which l ead to extensive tip self imaging. By measuring the profiles of these holes (which are of variable size ranging from tens of nanometres to m icrons in depth), it is possible to estimate the gross tip profile ove r a wide vertical range in a totally non-destructive manner.