ImAFM Nano-mechanical

  • Software package for real-time and off-line nanomechanical analysis
  • Automized setup for ImAFM
  • Point-and-click force curves
  • Conservative and dissipative force analysis
  • Dynamic force quadrature curves
  • Map material properties with 3D visulaization
  • Numerous force models, user defined models.

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  • Thanks to Intermodulation AFM, we were able in our lab to easily get valuable and quantitative information about the nanomechanical properties of soft and nanocomposites materials coming from academic collaborations but also from industrial partners.

    — Philippe Leclère, Professor, University of Mons

Force curve at every pixel

Screen shot of the ImAFM Software Suite.  Cantilever motion is displayed in the time or frequency domain.  The reconstructed curves show the tip-surface force vs. cantilever deflection at the pixels marked with an X in the image.

No more guessing the cause of image contrast - you can instantly see the tip-surface force at every image pixel. A simple point-and-click on an image with the Force Inspector Tool gets the data, analyzes it, and plots a force curve.

See details in the User Manual

Dynamic Force Quadratures

ImAFM offers a unique way to study tip-surface interaction with 'dynamic force curves' . At every image pixel two curves show the conservative force (in phase with the cantilever motion) and dissipative force (quadrature to the motion, or in phase with the velocity). These dynamic force quadrature curves are generated from the measured intermodulation spectrum without any assumptions or use of a particular model.

See details in the User Manual

See Publication

Screen shot of the ImAFM Software Suite.  The pixel inspector gives point and click reconstruction while scanning.  Cantilever motion is displayed in the time or frequency domain.  Force quadratures are shown at the pixel marked with a X in the image.

Parameter Maps

ImAFM is unprecedented for its ability to make high resolution physical property maps of stiffness, adhesive force, penetration depth, or any other model parameter. The ImAFM software suite comes with many common force models installed and ready for analysis. You can impliment your own models using the powerful SciPy scientific tools for Python. Each parameter value is extracted at every image pixel and displayed as a color density plot which can be projected on to a 3D rendering of the surface topography.

See details in the user manual

See publications

Get Intermodulation AFM

Turn your AFM into an Intermodulation AFM with the help of:

  • MLA-3, our unique lockin amplifier which make all Intermodulation AFM measurements possible.
  • Multifrequency AFM Suite, the core software component which help interface the lockin with your AFM.
  • Breakout box, depending on the AFM you may require additional signal access hardware.

Check out the other available modes in the Intermodulation AFM-family:

  • ImEFM, high signal-to-noise contact potential difference imaging. An alternative to Kelvin Prove Force Microscopy.
  • ImFFM, high velocity nanoscale friction studies.
  • ImCAFM, conducting force microscopy with IV-curves in every pixel.

Intermodulation AFM in publications

Intermodulation atomic force microscopy
Daniel Platz, Erik A. Tholén, Devrim Pesen, and David B. Haviland
Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 153106 (2008)
Model-based extraction of material properties in multifrequency atomic force microscopy
Daniel Forchheimer, Daniel Platz, Erik A. Tholén, and David B. Haviland.
Phys. Rev. B 85, 195449 (2012)
Interaction imaging with amplitude-dependence force spectroscopy
Daniel Platz, Daniel Forchheimer, Erik A. Tholén and David B. Haviland
Nature Communications 4 1360 (2013)