Oxford Instruments Asylum Research’s Cypher ES AFM offers specially implemented environmental control to the ultra-high resolution and quick scanning of the Cypher S base model.
The Cypher ES AFM builds on the modularity of the Cypher AFM platform. The Cypher ES scanner has a completely sealed liquid-tight and gas-tight sample cell which is the base of environmental control options including cooling, heating, humidity control, and an electrochemical cell.
Owing to its superior capabilities, the Cypher ES is the ideal AFM for research on graphene, polymers, and other 2D materials, batteries, biomolecules, photovoltaic materials, and biomembranes.
Uniquely Well Implemented Environmental Control Capabilities
The Cypher ES is the only atomic force microscope developed from the ground up to aid outstanding environmental control with a completely sealed pressure-tight sample cell. This impressive design is the base of all Cypher ES environmental control capabilities, ensuring environmental control that works better and is effortless to use compared to other AFMs.
The cell should be completely sealed regardless of whether the sample is being cooled or heated, whether one is working in a dry or inert environment, regulating the humidity, or employing an electrochemical cell. Only then can the user be confident that the sample is protected, the environment is stable and controlled, and the AFM is safe from leaks.
The Cypher ES is designed to support imaging under the most extreme experimental conditions. These conditions include chemically aggressive solutions and solvents in the sub-ppm water and oxygen environment of a glovebox.
Fast Scanning Captures Nanoscale Dynamic Processes
Each component in the Cypher ES is designed to support rapid scanning. Traditional AFMs, including most of the AFMs sold currently, can scan images only up to 1–2 lines per second. This implies that each image takes several minutes to acquire. Cypher ES and other fast scanning AFMs image 10–20 × faster, and images can be procured in just a matter of seconds.
This enables the Cypher ES to see nanoscale dynamic processes in experimental systems like in operando battery research, polymer thermal transitions, and etch and dissolution processes. For the maximum high-speed AFM imaging, the Cypher ES can be readily upgraded to the Cypher VRS1250, which can support scan rates up to 1250 lines/second and true video-rate AFM movies at up to 45 frames/second.
Easily and Routinely Obtain Higher Spatial Resolution
The Cypher ES is designed to achieve ultra-high spatial resolution. The mechanical design of Cypher ES is so stable that it is typically used without any additional vibrational isolation.
The “mechanical loop” that links the sample and the AFM cantilever is wholly contained in the scanner, making it stiff, short, and immune to almost all outside sources of vibration and acoustic noise, unlike the majority of the AFMs.
On most AFMs, achieving atomic and molecular resolution is a “hero experiment.” However, these results are routinely and easily procured on the Cypher ES in any lab. The Cypher ES even maintains its ultra-high-resolution performance in the high vibration and high noise environment of a glovebox.
Simpler Environmental Control Opens New Research Potential
The Cypher ES is also convenient and very easy to use. The high noise immunity and small footprint enable it to be kept almost anywhere in the laboratory. The environmental control options can be swapped easily and quickly without extra cables, tubing, and control boxes. They are also completely controllable from the AFM software.
These features make experiments with environmental control easier to set up and operate, which paves the way for new research possibilities and speeds up the development of new advanced materials. The ability to switch rapidly between environmental control options makes the Cypher ES an ideal choice for both large interdisciplinary research groups and shared multi-user imaging facilities.