Elimination of instabilities in phase shift curves in phase-modulation atomic force microscopy in constant-amplitude mode

Abstract

The authors propose phase-modulation atomic force microscopy (PM-AFM) in constant-amplitude mode using automatic gain control to prevent the instabilities of cantilever dynamics. Under the condition that the driving frequency is set to the resonant frequency of the cantilever, phase shift curve in constant-amplitude mode shows no discontinuity, which resembles a typical behavior of the frequency shift curve in frequency-modulation AFM. They demonstrate that PM-AFM in constant-amplitude mode can clearly resolve phase-separated structures on polymer blend film without instability. These results indicate that PM-AFM in constant-amplitude mode is more stable than that in constant-excitation mode.