Advances in quantitative nanoscale subsurface imaging by mode-synthesizing atomic force microscopy

This paper reports on advances toward quantitative non-destructive nanoscale subsurface investigation of a nanofabricated sample based on mode synthesizing atomic force microscopy with heterodyne detection, addressing the need to correlate the role of actuation frequencies of the probe f(p) and the sample f(s) with depth resolution for 3D tomography reconstruction. Here, by developing a simple model and validating the approach experimentally through the study of the nanofabricated calibration depth samples consisting of buried metallic patterns, we demonstrate avenues for quantitative nanoscale subsurface imaging. Our findings enable the reconstruction of the sample depth profile and allow high fidelity resolution of the buried nanostructures. Non-destructive quantitative nanoscale subsurface imaging offers great promise in the study of the structures and properties of complex systems at the nanoscale. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.