Gaps in the understanding and interpretation of data collected in various SPM modes are a direct result of the rapidly advancing scanning probe microscopy (SPM) technology. This systematic study is coupling classical metallurgical samples with a new surface variation mapping technique in an effort to further the quantitative comprehension of atomic force microscopy (AFM) phase imaging.

Phase imaging is a technique that has exhibited the ability to provide the microscopist with qualitative information of a material’s microstructure on the nanometer scale. Regions of a microstructure that exhibit incongruous mechanical properties like: friction, elastic modulus, composition, and viscoelasticity are displayed, in the resulting image, as regions of differing contrast. An example of this type of phase contrast is clearly seen in FIG. 1. A quantification of the phase shift will give new insight into the cause of the contrast mechanism, and reason for contrast reversal.