New N8 NEOS AFM Introduced at Analytica 2010

Bruker Nano has introduced the new N8 NEOS atomic force microscope at this year’s Analytica exhibition in Munich, Germany. The N8 NEOS is the first optical microscope to demonstrate atomic resolution in combination with Bruker’s NANOS AFM/SPM measuring head. It is the most advanced instrument for navigated AFM. The user can select regions of interest using the optical microscope and the change to AFM via a simple turn of the microscope turret.

The microscope is a proprietary design by Bruker, consisting of a highly rigid granite stand, research grade microscope optics and the NANOS measuring head. The system provides optical microscope features like brightfield, darkfield and differential interference contrast and supports a multitude of AFM modes. These include contact and all non-contact modes, lateral force, magnetic force mode, electric force mode, scanning surface potential mode, nanolithography and more.

The NANOS measuring head, which is part of all Bruker AFM/SPM, uses fiber-optic interferometry for the detection of cantilever deflection. This provides superior sensitivity and a calibrated measurement of displacement and amplitude. The head is so compact that it could be designed to approximate a standard microscope objective in size and shape. A cantilever is easily exchanged, without requirement for alignment or manual adjustment. This also makes the NANOS an interesting option to upgrade existing research grade microscopes to AFM.