Evaluating AFM as an analysis tool for graphene
AFM has become the instrument of choice for studying nanomaterials for two key reasons: resolution, and availability of many different modes enabling comprehensive characterization of a nanomaterial, including its mechanical and electrical properties beyond the topography.
The exceptional x-, y-, and z-resolution are important due to phenomena close to the atomic scale. The resolution of a commercial AFM ranges from less than a few nanometers all the way to atomic resolution laterally, and better than 0.1 nm vertically. This makes AFM one of the few types of instruments that can attain the resolution required to measure nanosheets that are only a few angstroms thick.
This application note dives deeper into different types of 2D materials and which properties can be measured well with atomic force microscopy. Continue reading to find out if AFM is a suitable tool to analysis the material properties of graphene and other 2D materials.
