title: Electrostatic-free piezoresponse force microscopy.
abstract: Contact and non-contact based atomic force microscopy (AFM) approaches have been extensively utilized to explore various nanoscale surface properties. In most AFM-based measurements, a concurrent electrostatic effect between the AFM tip/cantilever and sample surface can occur. This electrostatic effect often hinders accurate measurements. Thus, it is very important to quantify as well as remove the impact of the electrostatic effect on AFM-based measurements. In this study, we examine the impact of the electrostatic effect on the electromechanical (EM) response in piezoresponse force microscopy as a model AFM mode. We quantitatively studied the effects of increasing the external electric field and reducing the spring constant of a cantilever. Further, we explored ways to minimize the electrostatic effect. The results provide broad guidelines for quantitatively analyzing the EM response as well as, eventually, for obtaining the electrostatic-free EM response. The conclusions can be applied to other AFM-based measurements that are subject to a strong electrostatic effect between the AFM tip/cantilever and sample surface, regardless of contact and non-contact modes.
authors.affiliation: School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, 440-746, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sungho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, 440-746, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Daehee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Seol
authors.affiliation: The State Key Discipline Laboratory of Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Marin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alexe
authors.affiliation: School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, 440-746, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yunseok
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kim