Reconstruction of electrostatic force microscopy images

An efficient algorithm to restore the actual surface potential image from Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements of semiconductors is presented. The three-dimensional potential of the tip-sample system is calculated using an integral equation-based boundary element method combined with modeling the semiconductor by an equivalent dipole-layer and image-charge model. The derived point spread function of the measuring tip is then used to restore the actual surface potential from the measured image, using noise filtration and deconvolution algorithms. The model is then used to restore high-resolution Kelvin probe microscopy images of semiconductor surfaces. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.