Nanonics is the proud recipient of the 2015 Microscopy Today Innovation Award for development of the CryoView MP system for low temperature, multiprobe scanning probe microscopy. These innovation awards are presented for the top 10 innovations in the field of microscopy by Microscopy and Analysis magazine and were presented at the 2015 Microscopy and Microanalysis conference in Portland, Oregon in August.
This award follows the 2013 Microscopy Today award to Nanonics Imaging for its AFM-SEM-FIB microscope. These awards acknowledge outstanding advances in scientific research by Nanonics Imaging, including scanning probe microscopy, Nanonics’ area of expertise.
The Nanonics Imaging CryoView MP was recognized for its innovation as a multi-probe scanning probe microscopy (SPM) platform designed to study mechanical, spectroscopic, optical, thermal, and electrical properties at low temperature. By employing up to four individual SPM probes that can be operated independently and simultaneously, the CryoView MP can perform a variety of characterization and transport measurements in situ in combination with light microscopy techniques such as Raman, fluorescence, and NSOM in a controlled environment from room temperature down to 10 K. Advanced forms of SPM are enabled for each individual probe including AFM, KPM, EFM, S-NSOM, NSOM, STM, AFM-Raman, and TERS.
Applications are possible over a range of temperatures such as: (a) electrical probe station combined with in situ simultaneous Raman characterization, (b) nanoscale optical and electrical transport measurements, where one probe serves as the excitation source and the second probe maps the transport process, (c) chemical lithography with one probe and high resolution imaging of the written features with a second probe, and (d) combined SPM measurements where one probe can perform an advanced SPM measurement while a high resolution AFM tip maps the same area.
A particular application of the CryoView MP is characterization of 2D materials such as graphene, MoS2, BN, NBSe2, metamaterials, and metasurfaces as well as other functional materials such as Si, carbon nanotubes, III-V semiconductors, and quantum dots. In order to fully examine the potential of these materials, multiple characterization methods need to be brought together in a single instrument like the CryoView MP to provide a complete understanding of their performance.