Canet-Ferrer Josep, Coronado Eugenio, Forment-Aliaga Alicia, Pinilla-Cienfuegos Elena
Instituto de ciencia molecular (ICMol) de la Universidad de Valencia, c/ Catedrático José Beltrán Martínez num. 2, E46980 Paterna, Spain.
Nanotechnology. 2014 Oct 3;25(39):395703. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/25/39/395703. Epub 2014 Sep 9.
AFM images are always affected by artifacts arising from tip convolution effects, resulting in a decrease in the lateral resolution of this technique. The magnitude of such effects is described by means of geometrical considerations, thereby providing better understanding of the convolution phenomenon. We demonstrate that for a constant tip radius, the convolution error is increased with the object height, mainly for the narrowest motifs. Certain influence of the object shape is observed between rectangular and elliptical objects with the same height. Such moderate differences are essentially expected among elongated objects; in contrast they are reduced as the object aspect ratio is increased. Finally, we propose an algorithm to study the influence of the size, shape and aspect ratio of different nanometric motifs on a flat substrate. Indeed, with this algorithm, convolution artifacts can be extended to any kind of motif including real surface roughness. From the simulation results we demonstrate that in most cases the real motif's width can be estimated from AFM images without knowing its shape in detail.
原子力显微镜（AFM）图像总是受到由针尖卷积效应产生的伪像的影响，导致该技术横向分辨率下降。通过几何考虑来描述这种效应的大小，从而更好地理解卷积现象。我们证明，对于恒定的针尖半径，卷积误差随物体高度增加，主要针对最窄的图案。在相同高度的矩形和椭圆形物体之间观察到物体形状的一定影响。在细长物体之间本质上预期会有这种适度差异；相反，随着物体长宽比增加，差异会减小。最后，我们提出一种算法来研究不同纳米图案的尺寸、形状和长宽比对平坦基底的影响。实际上，通过该算法，卷积伪像可以扩展到任何类型的图案，包括实际表面粗糙度。从模拟结果我们证明，在大多数情况下，无需详细了解其形状，就可以从AFM图像估计真实图案的宽度。
