[Spm] Smears in AFM scans -advice needed

[Noam]

Hello,
We have MI PICOSPM-II, SMENA and a MultiMode IV.
A repeating problem that occurs with all AFMs is that we get smears.
by smears I mean that when scanning a particle (e.g.), we get an image of a
"tube".
At first we thought it was a software issue, but the "scan the same line"
option (slow axis scan disabled) was not the reason.
We thought it might be tip related problem, so we bought tips from other
vendors (including Veeco tips) - the issue was not resolved.

The fact that this occurs with 3 separate AFMs means it can't be a faulty
machine issue...
it is also frustrating that must scan we receive smears, but sometimes we
can get a very good scan, and a few minutes later -  smears.


I would really appreciate any advice.
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