T. Fujii et al., Atomic force microscope for direct comparison measurement of step height and crystalline lattice spacing, NANOTECHNOL, 10(4), 1999, pp. 380-384
A new atomic force microscope (AFM) for direct comparison measurements of s
tep heights and crystalline lattice spacing has been developed. The AFM is
equipped with a cantilever with a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin film s
ensor, a reference crystal technique with a scanning tunnelling microscope
(STM) for step height measurement, high accuracy mechanisms, and an interfe
rometer. A mono-atomic step on a surface of sapphire (0001) has been measur
ed to show the performance of the AFM. The measured step height of the mono
-atomic step calibrated by the interferometer in real time was 0.21 +/- 0.0
7 nm (1 sigma) and from the known lattice constant of graphite of 0.246 nm,
a step height of 0.19 +/- 0.05 nm (1 sigma) can be derived for the sapphir
e sample, both of which agree with the known value of a single step of 0.22
nm.