AFM based dielectric spectroscopy: Extended frequency range through excitation of cantilever higher eigenmodes

In the last years, a new AFM based dielectric spectroscopy approach has been developed for measuring the dielectric relaxation of materials at the nanoscale, the so called nanoDielectric Spectroscopy (nDS). In spite of the effort done so far, some experimental aspects of this technique remain still unclear. In particular, one of these aspects is the possibility of extending the experimental frequency range, to date limited at high frequencies by the resonance frequency of the AFM cantilever as a main factor. In order to overcome this limitation, the electrical excitation of cantilever higher eigenmodes for measuring the dielectric relaxation is here explored. Thus, in this work we present a detailed experimental analysis of the electrical excitation of the cantilever second eigenmode. Based on this analysis we show that the experimental frequency range of the AFM based dielectric spectroscopy can be extended by nearly two decades with a good signal-to-noise ratio. By using the combination of first and second cantilever eigenmodes we study dissipation processes on well known PVAc based polymeric samples. Both, relaxation spectra and images with molecular dynamics contrast were thus obtained over this broader frequency range.