Thermoelectric stack sample cooling modification of a commercial atomic force microscopy

TL;DR

This paper introduces a thermoelectric cooling stage for atomic force microscopy that enables temperature control down to -61.4°C, facilitating nanoscale material studies with minimal noise interference.

Contribution

The work presents a thermoelectric cooling modification integrated into AFM, capable of reaching low temperatures while maintaining compatibility and low noise, demonstrated with resistive switching in a thin film.

Findings

Achieved cooling down to -61.4°C with minimal noise.

Demonstrated AFM performance with a La0.7Sr0.3MnO3-y thin film.

Analyzed temperature effects on cantilever deflection and noise.

Abstract

Enabling temperature dependent experiments in Atomic Force Microscopy is of great interest to study materials and surface properties at the nanoscale. By studying Curie temperature of multiferroic materials, temperature based phase transition on crystalline structures or resistive switching phenomena are only a few examples of applications. We present an equipment capable of cooling samples using a thermoelectric cooling stage down to -61.4 C in a 15x15 mm sample plate. The equipment uses a four-unit thermoelectric stack to achieve maximum temperature range, with low electrical and mechanical noise. The equipment is installed into a Keysight 5500LS Atomic Force Microscopy maintaining its compatibility with all Electrical and Mechanical modes of operation. We study the contribution of the liquid cooling pump vibration into the cantilever static deflection noise and the temperature dependence of the cantilever deflection. A La0.7Sr0.3MnO3-y thin film sample is used to demonstrate the performance of the equipment and its usability by analysing the resistive switching phenomena associated with this oxide perovskite.