November+29-30

November 29th:

Today I annealed a piece of Au(III) myself and then proceeded to scan it. It was neither exposed nor coated with octanethiols. The images were relatively clear, though the lines returned. In an attempt to correct them, I adjusted the gains and angle of scan several times.



November 30th:

Today was not as productive as yesterday. Despite about the same number of images, the quality is much worse. There was something new, in the form of drift. While this is likely normal on an AFM, and happens relatively often on STM, it is the first time that I have had drift on an AFM. There were certain times when it was so bad that I could not scan, as the image just dropped off. Other times the image stayed for the whole scan, but there were streaks everywhere. I asked Annette what she though and she wasn't sure, as she focuses on STM. Becky did not know either, and suggested that we ask Valerie the next time she is in the lab or we see each other. We speculated on what it might be, and I thought that the tip itself may be the cause, as it is a week to two weeks old. I hope that next week the tip will resume functioning properly, but I plan on changing it anyway.