Volume 17, Issue 5 (September 2003)

Micro- and nanoindentations were applied together with scanning electron and atomic force microscopy, cathodoluminescence, CL spectroscopy and computer graphics to obtain subsidiary information about peculiarities and regularities of plastic deformation in MgO. The movement of displaced material, production of dislocation structures, luminescent centres as well as the development of various slip traces and formation of cracks are discussed...

Collagen type I bundles labeled with silver nanoparticles show intense linear dichroism (LD) and abnormal dispersion of birefringence. The LD of the bundles was measured using video image analysis, line profiles (LP) and segmented regions of objects (ROI)...

Using AFM force measurements with functionalized probes, biophysicists can investigate the molecular interactions and physical properties of biosystems on the nanoscale. Functionalizing the AFM probe with chemical groups enables quantitative measurements of the surface hydrophobicity and charge of living cells...

Conservators of historic artifacts increasingly use analytical techniques to inform conservation processes and determine the provenance of artifacts. Raman spectroscopy lends itself to archaeometric analyses, being non-destructive and applicable in situ...

A typical application for SEMs in the semiconductor industry consists of evaluating the critical dimensions (CDs) of the patterns typically printed on a silicon wafer. The path towards smaller and smaller structures and the introduction of new process materials require leading-edge metrology, thus challenging the capabilities of current generation tools and pushing the CD technique to its limits...