in situ attoAFM/SEM
in-situ atomic force microscopy for SEMs
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With a decade of experience in scanning probe microscopy, attocube has succeeded in equipping the attoAFM I with all the virtues important for successful operation inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Thanks to its extremely rugged design and miniaturized size, the force microscope can be fully integrated into almost any SEM currently available on the market. Once mounted inside the electron microscope chamber facilitated by a custom-made adapter plate, its 45° tilted design allows full visual access to both AFM tip and sample using the SEM. As a further plus, the attoAFM I is compatible with virtually all commercially available cantilevers. This allows the user not only to image surface topographies, but also to visualize e.g. surface magnetic or electrostatic properties by using appropriate cantilevers. By varying the stiffness of the cantilever, nanoindentation and tensile strength experiments can be easily conducted.

Similar to the attoAFM I, the attoAFM III is an offshoot of attocube‘s successful low temperature atomic force microscope series. In contrast to its cantilever-based counterpart, the attoAFM III facilitates a tuning fork sensor for ultra-sensitive topographic measurements. Due to the miniature size of the tuning fork sensor, the attoAFM III is even more compact than the attoAFM I, allowing simple integration into virtually any electron microscope currently available on the market.
The zero-tilt design of the attoAFM III allows full visual access onto both sample and tip, while retaining the same coordinate systems for both SEM and AFM, making sample positioning and coarse approach a delight. The simple but powerful design of the attoAFM III has proven very successful in various applications, such as for the in-situ investigation of exposed but undeveloped e-beam resist.

Customized attoAFM providing full visible access to the tip position with respect to sample.	Customized attoAFM based on the tuning fork detection principle.