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Atomic Force Microscopy |
Article Submitted by: Marcia Henin
Sunday, 24 January 2010
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Microscopes are the most important instruments in any bio medical research process. The invention of Atomic Force microscopes (AFM) has opened new horizons in the investigation of biomedical specimens. Atomic Force Microscopy was developed to master basic drawbacks of STM instruments. STM had the ability to image only conducting and semi-conducting surfaces. However, AFM can image almost any type of surface such as ceramics, glass, polymers, composites and biological samples. AFM was invented by Binnig, Quate and Gerber in 1985. The original AFM model consists of a diamond shard attached to a strip of gold foil. The diamond tip contacts the surface directly allowing the interaction mechanism. The interaction mechanism occurs due to inter-atomic van der Waals forces. The second tip of AFM detects the cantilever's vertical movement. Nowadays, most of the AFMs are fitted with a laser beam deflection system which was introduced by Amer and Meyer. The laser is reflected to position-sensitive detectors from the back of the reflective AFM lever in this deflection system. The AFM cantilevers and tips are micro-fabricated from Si3N4 or Si. The radius of such tips is up to 10ns of nm. AFM is capable of tri dimensional mapping of the surface. The results obtained gained scientific relevance when it was understood that it is not fancy reconstruction of surfaces, but actual graphical data that is obtained vertical down to subnanometer range. The simplified sample preparation and different possibilities of investigating specimens in liquid environment by AFM gives confidence to researchers. Researchers always strive to find a way to use AFM in their research process. AFM images display significant information about surface characteristics with amazing clarity. The instrument has the ability to examine any decent rigid surface in air or immersed in liquid. The recent developments in instruments allow the control of the temperature of the sample. It can also be fitted with close chamber to achieve environmental control. The AFM can also be mounted on an inverted microscope for concurrent imaging through advanced optical techniques Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
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