Jx. Mou et al., AN OPTICAL-DETECTION LOW-TEMPERATURE ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPE AT AMBIENT PRESSURE FOR BIOLOGICAL-RESEARCH, Review of scientific instruments, 64(6), 1993, pp. 1483-1489
A low temperature atomic force microscope, based on the optical lever
detection method and operated in liquid nitrogen vapor at ambient pres
sure, has been constructed. The experimental results show that atomic
resolution images can be obtained on both mica and highly oriented pyr
olytic graphite at temperatures down to 79 K with sufficient thermal s
tability. In liquid nitrogen vapor, no surface contamination was obser
ved after many hours of continuous operation, which demonstrates that
such an approach is ideal for biological applications for its lower co
st and easy maintenance.