AFM principles

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Welcome to the new MIDAS homepage, which details the next generation in this deconvolution software made specifically for the Atomic Force Microscope. This Web site is designed to explain and promote the dilation/erosion process.

The AFM is a relatively new instrument used to measure the topography of a sample, operating much like a phonograph and vinyl record, only on a much smaller scale. Unfortunately, the images obtained are a combination of the sample and tip geometry and this can cause some very undesirable effects. The MIDAS program can process the images to reduce these distortions, thereby giving a more accurate representation of the sample.

Alternatively, the algorithm allows the AFM user to "image" the tip they are using as a check of its condition. This tip geometry can also be used in subsequent image improvement and to estimate the forces encountered during imaging.

The site is also homepage to its author, Dr. Peter Markiewicz, a former post-doc in the Surface Analysis Lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

Use the following pages to learn more about the MIDAS program and what it does. Feel free to submit comments or your own images of artifacts and this processing technique.

  bullet How the typical AFM works
   bullet Con/deconvolution (a.k.a. Dilation/Erosion)
    bullet Tip estimation using Blind Reconstruction
     bullet A special 3D probe microscope
      bullet Available Tip Characterizers and What These Look Like
       bullet Spot the Artifacts and other Deconvolution Examples
        bullet Convolution and its effect on Helicity
         bullet Available Software , MIDAS98 , and
           bullet Related links!


How the AFM works | Con/deconvolution | Blind Reconstruction | Available Tip Characterizers | What These Look Like
Spot the Artifacts | Deconvolution Examples | Helicity | Related links

Me
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     Last revised on 01-22-2001 by Peter Markiewicz