Scanning acoustic force microscope detection of SAWs

We present a novel method for the investigation of surface acoustic wave (SAW) fields with nanometer resolution by a scanning acoustic force microscope (SAFM). The detection of ultrasound by a force microscope is connected with the nonlinear dependence of the force on the distance between the tip and the surface. Due to this nonlinearity there is an effective shift of the mean position of the tip if one modulates the gap distance by a propagating SAW. Furthermore, the surface charges influence the tip deflection. By operating the SAFM in the dynamic mode the wave amplitude as well as the charge distribution can be measured at common surface structures. The measurements were carried out by a contact and a non-contact mode scanning force microscope (SFM). The SAWs were excited by an interdigital transducer (IDT) on a YZ-LiNbO₃ crystal cut at 30.75 MHz (contact) and 39.5 MHz (noncontact). The amplitude of the SAW was modulated by a low frequency (5 Hz and 50 kHz). The low frequency oscillation of the average of the tip-to-surface distance was measured by lock-in technique in dependence on the amplitude and the frequency of the SAW. The measurements of the amplitude of the SAW and the charge distribution were carried out within the IDT