Analog frequency modulation detector for dynamic force microscopy

A new analog frequency modulation ~FM! detector ~demodulator! for dynamic force microscopy ~DFM! is presented. The detector is designed for DFM by utilizing the FM detection method where the resonance frequency shift of the force sensor is kept constant to regulate the distance between a tip and a sample surface. The FM detector employs a phase-locked loop ~PLL! circuit using a voltage-controlled crystal oscillator ~VCXO! so that the thermal drift of the output signal is negligibly reduced. The PLL is used together with a frequency conversion ~heterodyne! circuit allowing the FM detector to be used for a wide variety of force sensors with the resonance frequency ranging from 10 kHz to 10 MHz. The minimum detectable frequency shift was as small as 0.1 Hz at the detection bandwidth of 1 kHz. The detector can track a resonance frequency shift as large as 1 kHz. We also present some experimental results including the observations of the Si~111!-737 reconstructed surface and fullerene molecules deposited on the surface by DFM using this FM detector. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. @DOI: 10.1063/1.1416104#