Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme

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KFM: Fachverband Kristalline Festkörper und deren Mikrostruktur

KFM 9: New Methods and Developments: Scanning Probe Techniques 2 (joint session O/KFM)

KFM 9.3: Talk

Monday, September 5, 2022, 15:30–15:45, S053

3D Force mapping of single organic molecules at room temperature — •Timothy Brown, Philip Blowey, Jack Henry, and Adam Sweetman — University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

Scanning probe microscopy has established itself as a highly effective technique in the study of surfaces and molecules. In particular, non-contact atomic force microscopy has yielded enormous progress in our ability to characterise materials at the atomic scale, including the ability to resolve the chemical structure of individual molecules, and to acquire 3D force-maps with intramolecular resolution.

Intramolecular imaging is almost exclusively performed using qPlus sensors at cryogenic temperatures, as the functionalisation of the tip via a CO molecule (required for intra-molecular imaging) is only stable at near liquid helium temperatures. Although it has been shown that intramolecular imaging may be performed at higher temperatures, via use of semi-conducting, rather than metallic substrates, acquisition of high density 3D data sets generally requires long acquisition times. Hence the lack of thermal equilibrium between the tip and sample at room temperature makes acquisition of these datasets at elevated temperatures extremely challenging.

In this talk we present the first demonstration of high resolution 3D force mapping of a single organic molecule at room temperature using conventional silicon cantilevers. We show how the challenges of operating in a room temperature experimental environment can be overcome to acquire reproducible 3D force maps of a resolution and quality previously only demonstrated at low temperature.