Probing the structure of nanochannal arrays by electrostatic force microscopy

Abstract

Electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) represents a versitile tool for the characterisation of electric and dielectric structures at nanoscale which can be employed to provide charge distributions associated with such nanotopologies. EFM-phase profiles show only the variation of electrostatic force which is strongly influenced by the surface conductivity of nanostructured arrays providing improved definition compared to conventional AFM. Here we apply it to carbon nanochannel arrays embedded within polyimide dielectric matrices. © 2012 World Scientific Publishing Co.