The Veeco Dimension AFM is a large sample platform for almost all standard SPM techniques (topography imaging including phase mapping, MFM, LFM, force plots etc.).

Replacing the standard cantilever holder by a Hysitron transducer enables the user to perform various mechanical tests on the micron and nanometre scale: instrumented indentation, micromechanical tests like pillar compression or beam-bending, scratch- and scanning wear tests with high precision and reproducibility, under ambient air or in fluid. In–situ SPM imaging allows exact positioning (10 nm) of the probe tip for effortless pre- and post- test topographical imaging without the need to reposition an auxiliary imaging instrument over the testing site.

Up to now a large number of various tests on diverse samples has been performed: Fracture stress and toughness, wear and scratch resistance, adhesion and flow stress have been determined on bulk materials as well as on thin films, on metals and their alloys, ceramics, technical and biological polymers like bone, teeth and wood cell walls, in addition to the conventional hardness and modulus measurements.

The basic technical data of the AFM are: Maximum sample size 150 mm, maximum scan size: 90 µm, z-axis limit: 6.1 µm, resolution in vertical direction better than 1 Angstrom. The specifications of the Hysitron transducer are a maximum displacement 5 µm and a maximum load 12 mN. The resolution in load is better than 1 nN at a noise floor of 100 nN, the displacement is measured with a resolution of 0.0004 nm at a noise floor of 0.2 nm.