Innovation in AFM: A Timeline of Scientific and Technical Progress

Bruker’s Dimension Icon® brings the highest levels of performance, functionality, and AFM accessibility to nanoscale researchers in science and industry. Building upon the world’s most utilized large-sample AFM platform, it is the culmination of decades of technological innovation, customer feedback, and industry-leading application flexibility. 

• Highest-performance tip scanner - Unmatched large-sample resolution with open-loop noise levels, reduced noise floor, and <200 pm drift rates
• Easy productivity - Simple setup, intuitive workflow, and fast time to results for publication-quality data every time
• Versatile open-access platform - Accommodates the widest variety of experiments, modes, techniques, and semi-automated measurements

Built on industry-leading Dimension Icon AFM architecture, Dimension FastScan® is the first-and-only high-speed tip-scanning system that achieves frames per second scan rates without compromising resolution or system performance – independent of sample size.

• No-compromise high-speed performance - Highest resolution any time, every time, independent of sample size
• Real-time nanoscale dynamics - Ultimate tip-scanning speed and stability for direct visualization of dynamic behavior
• Automated setup, data acquisition, and analysis - Makes system operation exceedingly simple, while enhancing productivity

Taking advantage of decades of AFM innovation, Dimension Nexus™ delivers exceptional value, with enhanced upgradability and ease of use. Suitable for both routine and custom experiments and easily upgradable in the field, it is both an excellent starter system and a perfect addition to any AFM lab.

• Best-in-class performance - Powered by the NanoScope 6 controller for lowest noise and highest speeds
• Ultimate versatility and value - Affordable AFM excellence for a wide range of applications and experiments
• Programmable motorized stage - High-throughput, multi-site measurement capability rapidly delivers high-quality data

The JPK NanoWizard® V BioAFM combines high spatio-temporal resolution with a large scan area, flexible experiment design, and out-standing integration with advanced optical microscope systems. The automated setup, alignment, and re-adjustment of system parameters opens new possibilities for long-term, self-regulating experiment series.

• Automated setup, workflow, and calibration - New possibilities for long-term, self-regulating experiment series and complex experimental routines
• Advanced force control - Nanomechanical characterization of single molecules, cells, tissues, and highly delicate samples with NanoMechanics quantitative imaging
• 400 lines/sec fast scanning - Real-time dynamic biological process imaging via adaptive, intelligence-based scanning routine, fast force mapping, and molecular recognition

The NanoRacer® High-Speed AFM system delivers an unprecedented imaging speed of 50 frames per second, setting a new milestone in high-speed scanning capabilities to enable true real-time visualization of dynamic biological processes using atomic force microscopy (AFM). 

• Ultrahigh 50 fps and 5000 lines/sec scan speeds - Lowest force imaging, minimum sample damage and highest scan speeds for advanced force mapping
• Easy and intuitive use - Cutting-edge engineering, fully automated setup, and state of the art data analysis
• Atomic defect resolution - Real-time visualization of dynamic biological processes with nanometer resolution

Taking advantage of decades of AFM innovation, CellHesion® 300 provides automated, reproducible, quantitative measurements with maximum throughput. It enables correlative and label‑free multiparametric, nanomechanical measurements of living samples in near‑physiological conditions -- creating new possibilities for applications in developmental biology, tissue engineering, nanomedicine, and other areas requiring precise, quantitative characterization of living biological systems

• Improved Productivity - Automated processes and increased sample size deliver the statistical significance necessary in biomedical and pre-clinical research

• SmartMapping Feature - Fast and easy selection of multiple regions of interest over large sample areas with flexible, user-defined 2D shaped force maps

• Label-free Measurements - Multiparametric, nanomechanical characterization of living samples in near-physiological conditions
  

Dimension IconIR™ combines nanoscale infrared (IR) spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy (SPM) on one platform to deliver the most advanced spectroscopy, imaging, and property mapping capabilities available. This system provides radically more flexibility and applicability to enable groundbreaking research across a broad range of polymer, geoscience, semiconductor, and life science applications.

• Productive guided workflow and programmable stage - Highest measurement throughput with intrinsically easy-to-use AFM-IR
• Multimodal chemical and property mapping - Quantitative nanochemical, nanomechanical, and nanoelectrical data
• Sub-5 nm patented photothermal AFM-IR imaging - Highest resolution, best signal-to-noise characterization with monolayer sensitivity

By combining proprietary photothermal IR spectroscopy with advanced AFM property mapping, Dimension IconIR300™ enables automated wafer inspection and defect identification on samples that challenge conventional techniques. The system’s architecture supports rapid chemical imaging and quantitative analysis, extending AFM-IR capabilities to new semiconductor segments and materials.

• Whole-wafer nanoscale chemical and material property characterization -Combined IR spectroscopy and AFM property mapping for highly accurate, non-destructive measurements of 200 mm and 300 mm wafers
• Unambiguous identification of organic/inorganic nanocontaminants - Semiconductor wafer and photomask quality analyzed with photothermal AFM-IR data that directly correlates to FTIR libraries
• Automated recipe-based measurements - User-friendly access to comprehensive data and KLARF file support

Introduced in December 2009, Bruker’s exclusive PeakForce Tapping® has been the most significant scientific breakthrough in AFM technology since the introduction of TappingMode. It provides unprecedented high-resolution imaging, extends AFM measurements into a range of samples not previously accessed, and uniquely enables simultaneous nanoscale property mapping.

PeakForce Tapping has been widely adopted in materials, data storage, and semiconductor research. PeakForce Tapping and its associated modes ScanAsyst, PeakForce QNM, PeakForce TUNA, PeakForce KPFM, and PeakForce SECM, have been cited in more than 4,000 peer-reviewed publications over the last 10 years, with over 30% of these publications in journals with impact factors in the top 10%. 

PeakForce-QI™ mode combines our revolutionary PeakForce Tapping and QI technology to deliver unique quantitative nanomechanical imaging capabilities.

This mode is ideal for investigating the structural and mechanical properties of soft and challenging biological samples under physiological conditions and is only available on our NanoWizard V AFMs.

Though AFM used to be primarily a topographical imaging tool, Bruker has developed modes that measure a host of electromagnetic, thermal, mechanical, chemical, and electrochemical properties. Learn more about AFM-nDMA for viscoelastic measurements, REFV AFM-IR for nanochemical analysis of challenging samples TR-DFM for increased sensitivity to lateral forces, DataCube for hyperspectral measurements, and many more modes.

Bruker’s pre-calibrated probes enable intrinsically accurate nanomechanical measurements with no reference samples. Simply read the QR code, confirm the probe number, and measure.

We have developed probes that optimize AFM system performance and data quality; probes that extend AFM capabilities; and probes that have enabled first‑and‑only applications.

For example, our FASTSCAN probes are designed specifically to take full advantage of the Dimension FastScan's extreme imaging speed without loss of resolution or force control. The PR-UM-TnIR probes feature front and back-side gold coating for nanoscale infrared spectroscopy.

InSight® 300 leverages Bruker’s two and a half decades of experience developing AFM innovations that improve resolution, stability, versatility, and ease of use. This fab-ready automated atomic force microscope (AAFM) is designed for reliable, cost-effective inline metrology in high-volume semiconductor manufacturing environments. 

Its exceptionally high throughput, accuracy, and reliability ensure trustworthy results at a low total cost of ownership.

• Best-in-class accuracy and stability - High-performance tip scanner combined with Bruker's ultra flat profilometer stage for nanometer-level precision
• Trusted reliability - 25 years of Bruker's dedicated fab technology guarantees the best solution for HVM environments
• <5 minute recipe creation - Ease of use through dedicated application modes ensures accurate metrology data by any user any time

InSight® AFP is the world’s highest performance and industry preferred CMP profiling and etch depth metrology system for advanced technology nodes. The combination of its modern tip scanner with inherently stable capacitive gauges and an accurate air-bearing positioning system enables non-destructive, direct measurements in the active area of dies.

• NIST-traceable reference metrology - Long-term stability of 0.3 nm over one year
• Highest productivity for inline applicaitons - Reduced MAM times and optimized wafer handling maintain up to 50 wafers/hour throughput
• Up to 36,000 µm/sec profiling speed - Rapid high-resolution 3D characterization with hot-spot identification