Ultimate Decoupling between Surface Topography and Material Functionality in Atomic Force Microscopy Using an Inner-Paddled Cantilever.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been widely utilized to gain insight into various material and structural functionalities on the nanometer scale, leading to numerous discoveries and technologies. Despite the phenomenal success in applying AFM to the simultaneous characterization of topological and functional properties of materials, it has continuously suffered from the crosstalk between the observables, causing undesirable artifacts and complicated interpretations. Here, we introduce a two-field AFM probe, namely an inner-paddled cantilever integrating two discrete pathways such that they respond independently to the variations in surface topography and material functionality.