Kelvin Probe Pressure Microscopy (KPFM) has turn out to be a vital atomic power microscopy (AFM) approach for investigating floor potentials and cost distributions in digital and optoelectronic supplies. Nonetheless, standard KPFM measurements might be affected by thermal drift, probe degradation, and environmental adjustments throughout knowledge acquisition, making the correct characterization of dynamic programs significantly difficult. On this article, Zeinab Eftekhari, Ariane Ufer, Ursula Wurstbauer, and Rebecca Saive introduce synchronized modulation Kelvin probe power microscopy (SM-KPFM), a sophisticated in-operando method designed to beat these limitations.
The authors developed SM-KPFM by synchronizing exterior stimulus modulation, reminiscent of illumination or electrical bias, with the AFM scan course. In synchronized illumination KPFM, the pattern stays unilluminated through the hint scan and illuminated through the retrace scan, enabling direct comparability of floor potential states inside the similar raster picture. This technique minimizes measurement artifacts arising from drift, thermal results, and AFM probe degradation whereas offering extremely reproducible floor photovoltage measurements.
The approach was demonstrated on a silicon photodiode and a molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) bilayer deposited on a gold substrate. By capturing illuminated and non-illuminated contact potential distinction (CPD) measurements alongside equivalent scan paths, SM-KPFM produced correct, drift-free floor photovoltage maps and offered improved perception into nanoscale photovoltaic conduct and cost separation processes in optoelectronic supplies.
Kelvin Probe Pressure Microscopy measurements had been carried out in sideband mode utilizing a NanoWorld ARROW-EFM AFM probe. The Pt/Ir-coated AFM probe, that includes a resonance frequency of 68 kHz and a spring fixed of two.8 N/m, enabled extremely delicate floor potential mapping with glorious electrical conductivity and measurement stability. The synchronization method required solely triggering the illumination supply utilizing the AFM scan course sign, making the approach readily relevant to present KPFM workflows with out complicated {hardware} modifications.
This work demonstrates how combining an revolutionary synchronized measurement technique with a NanoWorld ARROW-EFM AFM probe considerably improves the reliability of operando Kelvin Probe Pressure Microscopy. The methodology opens new alternatives for investigating nanoscale digital and optoelectronic gadgets, photovoltaic supplies, and different practical nanostructures the place exact floor potential mapping is crucial.
Full quotation:
Eftekhari, Z.; Ufer, A.; Wurstbauer, U.; Saive, R.
Synchronized modulation Kelvin probe power microscopy for floor photovoltage research in optoelectronic programs.
MRS Communications 16 (2026), 180–186.
https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-025-00899-3
