Electrostatic surface characterization by scanning probe microscopy

The electrostatic properties of surfaces are important in biological, polymer and semiconductor physics. Several newly developed scanning probe microscopies can provide nanometer scale characterization of these surfaces.;The capability of the EFM to map charge and dielectric variations on biological and polymeric surfaces has been demonstrated. Studies have been made on red blood cells, modified Teflon FEP films, and contact lens materials. A quantitative method to measure surface charge density on a nanometer scale has been established.;The redistribution of mobile surface ions has been visualized for the first time by the EFM on a submicron scale. It has been shown that the drift in the saturation current observed on the open gate field effect transistor is due to the migration of mobile surface ions under lateral fields.;Atomic ordering in GaInP, controlled either by growth temperature or by substrate misorientation, has been studied by the KPFM both in cross section and on the growth plane. It is shown that KPFM is capable of distinguishing ordered GaInP from disordered GaInP. The contrast is observed to depend on the applied ac amplitude used in the measurement. The experiments indicate that ordering in GaInP modifies the density and/or lifetime of the surface states.;In the course of this work, an Electrostatic Force Microscope (EFM) and a Kelvin Probe Force Microscope (KPFM) have been built using interferometric force detection. An EFM is a modified noncontact mode Atomic Force Microscope, capable of simultaneously measuring surface topography, surface charge or surface potential, and capacitance. A KPFM is similar to the classical Kelvin method in measuring surface potential, only in this case, forces are detected instead of currents. A 10...