Application Overview Halcyonics Products

AFM is a branch of microscopy that forms images of surfaces using a physical probe that scans the specimen. An image is obtained by mechanically moving the probe in a raster line by line (probe-surface interaction as a function of position)

• can be operated in a number of modes, depending on the application
• possible imaging modes are divided into static (contact) modes and a variety of dynamic (non-contact) modes where the cantilever is vibrated

The STM is based on the concept of quantum tunneling. When a conducting tip is brought very near to the surface to be examined, a bias (voltage difference) applied between the two can allow electrons to tunnel through the vacuum between them. The resulting tunneling current is a function of tip position, applied voltage, and the local density of states (LDOS) of the sample. Information is acquired by monitoring the current as the tip's position scans across the surface, and is usually displayed in image form.

Scanning Hall probe microscope (SHPM) is a variety of a scanning probe microscope which incorporates accurate sample approach and positioning of the scanning tunnelling microscope with a semiconductor Hall sensor. This combination allows to map the magnetic induction associated with a sample.

Scanning electrochemical microscopy: The structures of surfaces and electrochemical reactions in solid-liquid interfaces can be observed at atomic or molecular scales, e.g. with the electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope, or ESTM. On the electrode surface, many atoms, molecules, and ions adsorb and affect the reactions.

Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM/SNOM) is a microscopic technique for nanostructure investigation that breaks the far field resolution limit by exploiting the properties of evanescent waves. This is done by placing the detector very close (distance much smaller than wavelength λ) to the specimen surface. This allows for the surface inspection with high spatial, spectral and temporal resolving power. With this technique, the resolution of the image is limited by the size of the detector aperture and not by the wavelength of the illuminating light. In particular, lateral resolution of 20 nm and vertical resolution of 2–5 nm have been demonstrated As in optical microscopy, the contrast mechanism can be easily adapted to study different properties, such as refractive index, chemical structure and local stress. Dynamic properties can also be studied at a sub-wavelength scale using this technique.

Interferometry makes use of the principle of superposition to combine separate waves together in a way that will cause the result of their combination to have some meaningful property that is diagnostic of the original state of the waves. This works because when two waves with the same frequency combine, the resulting pattern is determined by the phase difference between the two waves—waves that are in phase will undergo constructive interference while waves that are out of phase will undergo destructive interference.

Ellipsometry is an optical technique for the investigation of the dielectric properties (complex refractive index or dielectric function) of thin films. Upon the analysis of the change of polarization of light, which is reflected off a sample, ellipsometry can yield information about layers that are thinner than the wavelength of the probing light itself, even down to a single atomic layer. The technology is non-destructive and contactless. Ellipsometry can probe the complex refractive index and film thickness.

There are two types of ellipsometer commercially available: imaging and non-imaging ellipsometer.

Imaging Ellipsometer are using a CCD camera as a detector and provide a real time contrast image of the sample. The tickness resolution of ellipsometers are in the Angstöm level. The lateral resolution on non imaging ellipsometer are downt to 30-50 microns, the lateral resolution of non imaging ellipsometers can go down to 1 micron

A Brewster Angle Microscop is dedicated to visualize the surface of ultrathin films.

At a special angle known as Brewster's angle, no p-polarized light is reflected from the surface, thus all reflected light must be s-polarized, with an electric field perpendicular to the plane of incidence.

Reflection spectroscopy is technology for the investigation of the orientation, association, adsorption and chemical change of chromophores in monolayers at the air-water interface.

A Langmuir-Blodgett trough is a laboratory apparatus that is used to compress monolayers of molecules on the surface of a given subphase (usually water) and measures surface phenomena due to this compression. It can also be used to deposit single or multiple monolayers on a solid substrate.

The term tensiometer applies to a devices to measure the surface tension of liquids. Surface tension is a property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force.

The Wilhelmy Plate tensiometer requires a plate to make contact with the liquid surface. It is widely considered the simplest and most accurate method for surface tension measurement.

A Wilhelmy plate is a thin plate that is used to measure equilibrium surface or interfacial tension at an air–liquid or liquid–liquid interface. In this method, the plate is oriented perpendicular to the interface, and the force exerted on it is measured.

Profilometer is a measuring instrument used to measure a surface's profile, in order to quantify its roughness.

There are two types of profilometer: contact and non-contact profilometer.

A profilometer is a measuring instrument used to measure a surface's profile, in order to quantify its roughness. Vertical resolution is usually in the nanometre level, though lateral resolution is usually poorer.

A diamond stylus is moved vertically in contact with a sample and then moved laterally across the sample for a specified distance and specified contact force. A profilometer can measure small surface variations in vertical stylus displacement as a function of position. A typical profilometer can measure small vertical features ranging in height from 10 nanometres to 1 millimetre. The height position of the diamond stylus generates an analog signal which is converted into a digital signal stored, analyzed and displayed. The radius of diamond stylus ranges from 20 nanometres to 25 μm, and the horizontal resolution is controlled by the scan speed and data signal sampling rate.

Profilometer is a measuring instrument used to measure a surface's profile, in order to quantify its roughness.

There are two types of profilometer: contact and non-contact profilometer.

Non contact profilometer is a frequently-used term for an optical profilometer. An optical profilometer is a non-contact method for providing much of the same information as a stylus based profilometer where the tip of the cantilever does not contact the sample surface.

Nanoindentation is a variety of indentation hardness tests applied to small volumes. Indentation is perhaps the most commonly applied means of testing the mechanical properties of materials. A nanoindenter is the main component for indentation hardness tests used in nanoindentation.

There are many types of nanoindenters in current use differing mainly on their tip geometry. Among the numerous available geometries are three and four sided pyramids, wedges, cones, cylinders, filaments, and spheres.

Raman spectroscopy is a spectroscopic technique used to study vibrational, rotational, and other low-frequency modes in a system. It relies on inelastic scattering, or Raman scattering, of monochromatic light, usually from a laser in the visible, near infrared, or near ultraviolet range. The laser light interacts with molecular vibrations, phonons or other excitations in the system, resulting in the energy of the laser photons being shifted up or down. The shift in energy gives information about the vibrational modes in the system.

Several variations of Raman spectroscopy have been developed. The usual purpose is to enhance the sensitivity, e.g., surface-enhanced Raman (SERS), to improve the spatial resolution, to acquire very specific information (resonance Raman). Another variation is the tip enhanced raman spectroscopy (TERS).

The patch clamp technique is a laboratory technique in electrophysiology that allows the study of single or multiple ion channels in cells.

• technology for micromanipulation of cells

An electron microscope is a type of microscope that uses a particle beam of electrons to illuminate the specimen and produce a magnified image. Electron microscopes (EM) have a greater resolving power than a light-powered optical microscope, because electrons have wavelengths about 100,000 times shorter than visible light (photons), and can achieve better than 50 pm resolution.

The electron microscope uses electrostatic and electromagnetic "lenses" to control the electron beam and focus it to form an image. These lenses are analogous to, but different from the glass lenses of an optical microscope that form a magnified image by focusing light on or through the specimen.

Established types of electron microscopes are:

• Transmission electron microscope (TEM)
• Scanning electron microscope (SEM)
• Reflection electron microscope (REM)
• Scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM)
• Low-voltage electron microscope (LVEM)

There are also several spcial set ups in the market, such as: HeIM Helium ion microscope (SHIM), Focused Ion Beam (FIB), Field Emission Gun (FEG), Field Emission (FE)

Confocal microscopy is an optical imaging technique used to increase optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by using point illumination and a spatial pinhole to eliminate out-of-focus light in specimens that are thicker than the focal plane. It enables the reconstruction of three-dimensional structures from the obtained images.

Three types of confocal microscopes are commercially available:

• Confocal laser scanning microscopes (CLSM)
• Spinning-disk confocal microscopes (Nipkow)
• Programmable Array Microscopes (PAM)

Further used explanations are used: Digital Confocal Microscope (DCM), Digital Resolution Microscope (DRM), spinning disc confocal solutions (SDCS)

An inverted microscope is a microscope with its light source and condenser on the top, above the stage pointing down, while the objectives and turret are below the stage pointing up.

The specimen is illuminated with light of a specific wavelength (or wavelengths) which is absorbed by the fluorophores, causing them to emit light of longer wavelengths (i.e. of a different color than the absorbed light). The illumination light is separated from the much weaker emitted fluorescence through the use of a spectral emission filter.

Some set ups use X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF)

Two-photon excitation microscopy is a fluorescence imaging technique that allows imaging of living tissue up to a very high depth, that is up to about one millimeter.

Digital holographic microscopy distinguishes itself from other microscopy methods by not recording the projected image of the object. Instead, the light wave front information originating from the object is digitally recorded as a hologram, from which a computer calculates the object image by using a numerical reconstruction algorithm. The image forming lens in traditional microscopy is thus replaced by a computer algorithm.

Optical or light microscopy involves passing visible light transmitted through or reflected from the sample through a single or multiple lenses to allow a magnified view of the sample.