Fourier Transform-Based Post-Processing Drift Compensation and Calibration Method for Scanning Probe Microscopy

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Maxime Le Ster, Pawłowski, Sławomir, Lutsyk, Iaroslav, Paweł Janusz Kowalczyk
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 09.11.2023
• Subjects: Compensation; Control theory; Drift; Feedback loops; Fourier transforms; Lattice parameters; Microscopy; Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors; Physics - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics; Scanning probe microscopy
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2311.05345

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is ubiquitous in nanoscale science allowing the observation of features in real space down to the angstrom resolution. The scanning nature of SPM, wherein a sharp tip rasters the surface during which a physical setpoint is maintained via a control feedback loop, often implies that the image is subject to drift effects, leading to distortion of the resulting image. While there are \emph{in-operando} methods to compensate for the drift, correcting the residual linear drift in obtained images is often neglected. In this paper, we present a reciprocal space-based technique to compensate the linear drift in atomically-resolved scanning probe microscopy images without distinction of the fast and slow scanning directions; furthermore this method does not require the set of SPM images obtained for the different scanning directions. Instead, the compensation is made possible by the a priori knowledge of the lattice parameters. The method can also be used to characterize and calibrate the SPM instrument.