It is a self-evident truth to anyone who has ever imaged with an AFM, that not all probes are created equal.
Like the infamous Heineken advert, we pride ourselves on being ‘refreshing’ in our approach to AFM probes. That includes being thorough in our quality checking process.
A lot goes into getting the image you’re looking for with an AFM. We don’t think you should have to worry about the quality of the probe you’re using though. That bit should be guaranteed. Every probe, every time.
So, here are our reasons why we inspect every AFM probe…
To avoid wasting your time - Most of us at NuNano have ‘war stories’ from our PhD days of hours (sometimes days) wasted due to an unsuspected duff AFM probe in a pack. In fact, the frustration created by the variability in quality of probes from other manufacturers back in the day planted a fundamental seed that led to the creation of NuNano as a company.
To avoid wasting your money - It isn’t just that variable AFM probe quality wastes time. Only having 7 or 8 probes out of a pack of 10 that have the expected sharpness and aspect ratio is also a waste of money. And, historically at least, there’s been an industry wide acceptance that that’s just how it is.
To guarantee high standards - Of course the tip variability occurs because the manufacturing process itself is mutable. On any given wafer there will inevitably be a few probes that aren’t up to scratch. Our quality check ensures that ‘as good as possible’ isn’t accepted. If any of the probes don’t meet our specifications, we simply won’t sell it.
Because we have the technology - Inspecting every probe is time-consuming. That’s the main reason other companies don’t tend to do it. The inspection requires a specialist microscope small enough to do the testing – e.g. an electron microscope – which we have. We’ve also written a programme to control the SEM, ensuring it images every probe and automates the analysis of the output, providing each probe with a pass or fail grade.
Because you can’t do high-resolution imaging with a blunt tip – We inspect the tip sharpness to ensure every single probe has a tip radius of less than 10nm.
To pick out and guarantee sharpness of more specialist probes – Our inspection approach enables us to test the quality of specialist products too, such as high aspect ratio and super sharp probes, meaning we can get you the guaranteed grade of probe your work requires.
Because we care! – Do we need to say more?! We want you to create the best images because we’re kind of geeky and love to see the great research that is achieved using NuNano probes.
If you’re as geeky as we are and want to read more about how our quality checking process works why not check out this article written by founder and managing director Dr James Vicary on our Automated Nanoscale Quality Control For Reliable, Artifact-free Atomic Force Microscopy in the RMS inFocus magazine, #63, September 2021.
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