Compositional Characterization of III-V Semiconductor Heterostructures by Friction Force Microscopy

Abstract

Simultaneous mapping of topography and chemical composition has always been one of the goals of microscopic techniques. Scanning probe microscopies have become one of the most powerful techniques for structural analysis and modification of surfaces at nanometer-scale^1–3. However, and not unlike the scanning tunneling microscope the capability to achieve chemical contrast is inferior and not as straightforward as topographic imaging. Recently, the measurement of lateral forces between the tip of an atomic force microscope and the sample has produced a new scanning probe method, called friction force microscopy (FFM)^4–6. This technique allows studies of tribological processes at nanometer-scale such as friction, wear and lubrication^7–13. Friction force microscopy has also been suggested as a tool to extract information about the chemical composition of the sample^14–18. The rationale here is that the dissipation of energy at the tip-sample interface happens in a very localized region and may involve some physical and chemical properties of that region.