AFM image reconstruction for deformation measurements by digital image correlation.

The scanner drift of the atomic force microscope (AFM) is a great disadvantage to the application of digital image correlation to micro/nano-scale deformation measurements. This paper has addressed the image distortion induced by the scanner drifts and developed a method to reconstruct AFM images for the successful use of AFM image correlation. It presents such a method, that is to generate a corrected image from two correlated AFM images scanned at the angle of 0° and 90° respectively. The proposed method has been validated by the zero-deformation test. A buckling test of a thin plate under AFM has also been demonstrated. The in-plane displacement field at the centre point of the buckling plate has been successfully characterized by the application of the image correlation technique on reconstructed AFM images.