Extended Model for the Interaction of Dielectric Thin Films with an Electrostatic Force Microscope Probe

To improve measurements of the dielectric permittivity of nanometric portions by means of Local
Dielectric Spectroscopy (LDS), we introduce an extension to current analytical models for the
interpretation of the interaction between the probe tip of an electrostatic force microscope (EFM) and
a thin dielectric film covering a conducting substrate. Using the proposed models, we show how
more accurate values for the dielectric constant can be obtained from single-frequency measurements
at various probe/substrate distances, not limited to a few tip radii.