Full information acquisition in piezoresponse force microscopy

Suhas Somnath, Alexei Belianinov, Sergei V. Kalinin, Stephen Jesse

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

The information flow from the tip-surface junction to the detector electronics during the piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) imaging is explored using the recently developed general mode (G-mode) detection. Information-theory analysis suggests that G-mode PFM in the non-switching regime, close to the first resonance mode, contains a relatively small (100-150) number of components containing significant information. The first two primary components are similar to classical PFM images, suggesting that classical lock-in detection schemes provide high veracity information in this case. At the same time, a number of transient components exhibit contrast associated with surface topography, suggesting pathway to separate the two. The number of significant components increases considerably in the non-linear and switching regimes and approaching cantilever resonances, precluding the use of classical lock-in detection and necessitating the use of band excitation or G-mode detection schemes. The future prospects of full information imaging in scanning probe microscopy are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number263102
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume107
Issue number26
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 28 2015

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