Paper EW-TuA5
Ztherm™ Modulated Thermal Analysis with Sub-Zeptoliter Resolution Using the Asylum Research Cypher and MFP-3D AFMs

Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 3:20 pm, Room Exhibit Hall 1

Asylum Research, the technology leader in Scanning Probe and Atomic Force Microscopy (SPM/AFM) will present the new Ztherm Modulated Local Thermal Analysis Option for its MFP-3D™ and Cypher™ AFMs. Ztherm provides highly localized heating with sensitivity to ≤10^-22 liter (sub-zeptoliter) materials property changes, more than an order of magnitude improvement in volume over that previously available with commercial systems. A standing problem with existing AFM-based thermal analysis systems is thermally induced bending of the cantilever that results in spurious deflection signals and variable loads being applied during heating. Asylum has developed a patent-pending cantilever compensation and control solution that corrects this problem, providing constant-load detection of thermally induced melting (Tm), phase transitions (Tg) and other morphological and compliance effects for materials studies and material identification – for areas less than 20nm x 20nm. In addition to standard thermal analysis capabilities, the Ztherm package can also be used to evaluate contact stiffness and dissipation as a function of temperature with advanced techniques such Dual AC Resonance Tracking (DART™). The contact stiffness and dissipation – measured at the cantilever resonance – are much more sensitive to temperature dependent properties, including surface melting and transition temperatures, than conventional deflection-based measurements. In addition, integrated piezo actuation allows high resolution AC imaging of samples for surface topographical mapping before and after thermal measurements.