An automated glitch-detection/restoration method of atomic force microscope images

Abstract

An automated glitch-detection/restoration method of atomic force microscope images is proposed and implemented. Contrary to other manual methods, our method is based on the probability distribution of the derivative of the scanned image data. The glitches are identified as the points that deviate from a normal probability density function. The essence of the automation is calculating the distribution of the scanned image and removing the points that deviate from the normal distribution. Quantitative analysis of the original and the restored image have been performed and the degree of deformation of the restored images has also been analyzed. This technique can directly be applied to other types of scanning probe microscope equipments. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.