Special measurement methods in nanotechnology SPM measurements on graphs
Studies on graphene, carbon nanotubes (CNT) and functionalized carbon are currently of great importance and were the subject of the last Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to A. Geim and K. Novoselov. An important tool for studying such substances is a Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM) manufactured by Nanonics and sold by Soliton. With this, AFM measurements can be carried out in combination with many other interesting tasks. In the work mentioned below, the conductivity is studied as a function of light incidence through the NSOM tip on a graphene transistor.
The study of the interaction of matter/light/electric fields is also interesting. A Nanonics NSOM tip with a 50 nm light exit opening can be used, for example, to illuminate a substrate and measure the electrical fields generated using Electrical Force (EFM) or Kelvin methods.
TERS measurements on graphs (Tip Enhanced Raman Scattering)
When studying graphs, it is important to know whether it is single-layer or multi-layer
The number of layers has an important influence on the physical behavior. Mounted on special substrates, this question can be guessed at under the microscope. However, many research groups want to combine graphene with other carriers or make the question of purity and structure measurable.
Here, TERS seems to become an interesting new tool, as we can show with measurements from Nanonics. While a volume of approx. 1µ x 1µ x 2µ is illuminated and measured with conventional (=far-field) Raman, the lateral propagation and, above all, the penetration depth can be significantly reduced with TERS. Nanonics was recently able to impressively demonstrate this, as can be seen below
