Force sensing with nanowire cantilevers

Visual force sensing with flexible nanowire buckling springs.

A calibrated method of force sensing is demonstrated in which the buckled shape of a long flexible metallic nanowire, referred to as a 'nanoneedle', is interpreted to determine the applied force. An individual needle of 157 nm diameter by 15.6 µm length is grown on an atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever with a desired orientation (by the method of Yazdanpanah et al 2005 J. Appl. Phys. 98 0...

Calibration of rectangular atomic force microscope cantilevers

A method to determine the spring constant of a rectangular atomic force microscope cantilever is proposed that relies solely on the measurement of the resonant frequency and quality factor of the cantilever in fluid ~typically air!, and knowledge of its plan view dimensions. This method gives very good accuracy and improves upon the previous formulation by Sader et al. @Rev. Sci. Instrum. 66, 3...

Preamplifying cantilevers for dynamic atomic force microscopy

A cantilever type has been developed for dynamic force microscopy by the addition of a harmonic oscillator in the form of a paddle to atomic force microscopy cantilevers. These cantilevers provide resonant amplification of periodic interactions between the probe and the substrate when the laser is aligned on the paddle. The cantilevers were explored for their use in piezoresponse force microsco...

Bimodal frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy with small cantilevers.

Small cantilevers with ultra-high resonant frequencies (1-3 MHz) have paved the way for high-speed atomic force microscopy. However, their potential for multi-frequency atomic force microscopy is unexplored. Because small cantilevers have small spring constants but large resonant frequencies, they are well-suited for the characterisation of delicate specimens with high imaging rates. We demonst...

Atomic force microscopy cantilevers beyond imaging