Analytical Sciences

Automatic Glitch Elimination of Scanning Probe Microscopy Images

Yuhang CHEN and Wenhao HUANG

Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P. R. China

Glitch artifacts appear in many scanning probe microscopy (SPM) images due to transient instabilities. Such artifacts can distort any quantitative analyses based on the measured images. A robust smoothing method has been adopted to eliminate the glitch artifacts. Results on different kinds of sample images demonstrate that this method is quite efficient. However, the smoothing operation will cause information loss in certain cases, especially on sharp structures. If these features are also crucial in analysis, the compromise between the elimination of glitches and the reservation of signal details should be settled. Post-restoration of image details from analyzing extracted glitch artifacts can meet this demand. Glitch elimination can help to improve the value of SPM in quantitative nanoscale measurements.

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