Talk:Kelvin probe force microscope
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Alison Chaiken 17:42, 30 September 2005 (UTC): I have only used Veeco's KPFM instrument so it's possible that other vendors have KPFM that work differently. The text of the article is a bit misleading if it is an attempt to describe how Veeco's system works. The specific text I find worrisome is this:
As the tip (work function: ψtip) contacts the sample (work function: ψsample) electrically, a potential difference (Δψ / q) between the tip and the sample is produced.
In fact, Veeco's method is completely non-contact. This text suggests that contact electrification is taking place, which is not true. In fact, KPFM as implemented by Veeco uses their "lift mode" where the tip flies at a constant height above the surface. I have used 60 nm as the lift height in my measurements, which pretty much guarantees that there's no contact.
Great, please revise the text to make it more accurate. I'm sure most of us have never used KVPMs before, so you probably know better than we do. Anyways, it's a little fishy how the article currently says "electrical contact"; that might mean simply that the tip is close enough to the surface to interact with it, not that it is close enough to the surface to be in mechanical contact.--Conwiktion 01:52, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
