This paper presents our work in developing an autonomous micromanipulation system. The originality of our system is that it takes advantage of adhesion forces to grip micro-objects using an AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) probe. A theoretical analysis of rolling conditions is carried out in order to achieve precise release of an object picked-up by adhesion. Vision control, based on the specifici...

The dynamic wetting properties of atomic force microscopy (AFM) tips are of much concern in many AFM-related measurement, fabrication, and manipulation applications. In this study, the wetting properties of silicon and silicon nitride AFM tips are investigated through dynamic contact angle measurement using a nano-Wilhelmy balance based method. This is done by capillary force measurement during...

Fluid force microscopy combines the positional accuracy and force sensitivity of an atomic force microscope (AFM) with nanofluidics via a microchanneled cantilever. However, adequate loading and cleaning procedures for such AFM micropipettes are required for various application situations. Here, a new frontloading procedure is described for an AFM micropipette functioning as a force- and pressu...

Chemical force microscopy (CFM) was used to characterize the chemical heterogeneity of two commercially available nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes. CFM probes were modified with three different terminal functionalities: methyl (CH3), carboxyl (COOH), and hydroxyl (OH). Chemically distinct information about the membrane surfaces was deduced based on differences in adhesion between th...

Unique conformations such as rod, semicircle, and circle structures of isolated semi-flexible helical polysilanes were observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM); the chain topology was significantly related to the chain length (molecular weight) on the surfaces.

On the right track: Recent advances in noncontact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) have enabled the bond-resolved imaging of reaction pathways. In particular, unprecedented insights into complex enediyne cyclization cascades on silver surfaces were gained by single-molecule imaging.

We have developed a wideband digital frequency detector for high-speed frequency modulation atomic force microscopy (FM-AFM). We used a subtraction-based phase comparator (PC) in a phase-locked loop circuit instead of a commonly used multiplication-based PC, which has enhanced the detection bandwidth to 100 kHz. The quantitative analysis of the noise performance revealed that the internal noise...

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been useful to investigate materials performance, processes, physical and surface properties at the nanometer scale. In addition to the standard AFM, which measures surface topography, many accessories have been developed to obtain specific additional information. In this chapter, we shall concentrate on atomic force spectroscopy (AFS), which derived from AFM a...

We report a systematic study to determine local elastic properties of surfaces combining atomic force microscope (AFM) with acoustic waves which is known as atomic force acoustic microscopy-AFAM. We describe the methodology of AFAM in detail and interpret the measurement using simple arguments and other complementary measurements using AFM. We have used a few selected samples to elucidate the c...