PeakForce TUNA Probe Selection and Mounting

Like TUNA, PeakForce TUNA requires an electrically conductive tip.

To obtain accurate mechanical property measurements, it is important to choose a probe that can cause enough deformation of the sample and still retain high force sensitivity. Therefore cantilever stiffness should be selected based on the sample stiffness.

Bruker’s newly introduced PF-TUNA probes are specifically designed for optimal electrical and mechanical performance as well as lifetime on soft delicate samples such as conductive polymers, bio-materials, or loosely bound nanostructures. These probes have Au coated tips and a spring constants of ~0.4 N/m. SCM-PIT probes which have a Platinum-Iridium coatings and a spring constants of ~3 N/m, work well for fragile samples, for instance, loosely bound nanostructures, and hard samples, for instance SiO₂ dielectric films. DDESP probes, which have doped diamond coatings and spring constants of ~40 N/m, are well suited for samples containing hard components. Because the instrument can operate in an inert atmosphere, it is possible to use aluminum or low work function metal coated silicon probes for organic solar cell characterization.

Table 1: Recommended Probes for PeakForce TUNA

Refer to your instruction manual to mount a tip in the probe holder and place the probe holder in the SPM head. See MultiMode Hardware Description or Dimension Hardware Description, for instructions regarding making electrical contact between the PF-TUNA Application Module and the tip through the probe holder.

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