In situ Investigation of Individual Filament Growth in Conducting Bridge Memristor by Contact Scanning Capacitance Microscopy

We report on the application of Contact Scanning Capacitance Microscopy (CSCM) to trace the growth of an individual Ni filament in a ZrO2(Y) film on a Ni sublayer (together with a conductive Atomic Force Microscope probe composing a nanometer-sized virtual memristor). An increasing of the filament length in the course of electro-forming results in an increasing of the capacitance between the probe and the sample, which can be detected by CSCM technique. This way, the filament growth can be monitored in real time in situ.

Термоавтоэлектронная эмиссия из квантовых точек антимонида индия

The paper identifies and analyzes the features of the mechanism of field emission in the tunneling microscope probe – indium antimonide quantum dot system in the temperature range of 23—150 °C. The analysis of the tunneling CVCs made it possible to conclude that there are different mechanisms of electron transfer from the metal probe of the tunneling microscope and the field emission of electrons through discrete energy levels of the indium antimonide quantum dot at different temperatures.

Моделирование оптимальной оптической системы ввода/вывода излучения для реализации эффективного зондового усиления электромагнитного поля для случая непрозрачных образцов

Competitive schemes for constructing an optical system for combining a scanning probe microscope and optical microspectrometer, allowing the study of opaque samples by the method of tip enhancement of the Raman scattering intensity, are considered. Optimal objectives for the implementation of each scheme, taking into account the presence of a scanning microscope probe, are selected. The efficiency of usage of each optical scheme is estimated quantitatively for both excitation of a Raman scattering signal and collecting secondary radiation. As a result, the most effective optical system in terms of "excitation / collection“ parameter is revealed.

Application of Atomic Force Microscope to Investigate the Surface Micro-Adhesion Properties of Asphalt

The surface energy and bonding coefficient of asphalt are important factors that affect the adhesion performance of asphalt/aggregate. In this study, the micro-bee-like-structure of asphalt and force curves between the microscope-probe and asphalt were measured via atomic force microscopy (AFM). To investigate the influence of asphalt properties on micro-adhesion of asphalt, five types of asphalt were used in four states: original, aged at 163 °C, immersed in water and added anti-stripping agent. The results demonstrate that the surface energy of grade 90 asphalt is greater than that of grade 70 asphalt when oil source is the same and that of modified asphalt is greater than matrix asphalt. The surface energies and bonding coefficients of asphalts decreased after aging and immersion. The surface energies of asphalts were greatly improved by adding anti-stripping agent and the bonding coefficients of the asphalts increased by 5.04–37.14% after adding an anti-stripping agent.

Flexoelectric control of beams with atomic force microscope probe excitation

Based on the converse flexoelectric effect, flexoelectric actuator is designed and used to control the dynamic displacement of cantilever beams. First, shell-type stress expression based on double-curvature shell induced by the converse flexoelectric effect is developed, which can be simplified to a flexoelectric-laminated cantilever beam by applying two Lamé parameters and beam radius of curvature. Then, the flexoelectric actuator is designed with a conductive atomic force microscope probe and a flexoelectric layer. An inhomogeneous electric field is generated when the external voltage is applied on the atomic force microscope probe and the flexoelectric layer, which leads to stress in the longitudinal direction of beam and control moment. With the flexoelectric-induced bending moment, displacement induced by the external force and flexoelectric actuator is derived. The displacement is related to many parameters, such as actuation voltage, atomic force microscope probe radius and flexoelectric layer thickness. Cases are studied to optimize the control effect with different parameters. Results show that vibration control effect is enhanced with a higher actuation voltage and a smaller atomic force microscope probe radius for each mode. Besides, the thicker flexoelectric layer enhances the control effect with a larger bending moment arm for each mode. Dynamic vibration is controlled effectively by converse flexoelectric effect.