Takao Kusaka

Tunnelling charge injection into a pentacene layer using dynamic-mode scanning force microscopy

Conductive atomic force microscopy has been utilized to study the charge injection phenomenon on various materials. We proposed a gentle method for local charge injection and observation based on self-excitation dynamic-mode atomic force microscopy, which involves switching between amplitude modulation mode for tunnelling charge injection and frequency modulation modes for surface potential measurement. We demonstrated that the method was effective in investigating charge injection and dissipation processes without serious degradation of the tip and samples. To examine the method we measured gold nanoparticles on an insulator and an isolated pentacene island on a substrate.