A study of nanomechanical cantilevers vibrating at various resonating modes in liquid is presented. Resonant frequency spectrum with 16 well resolved flexural modes is obtained. The quality factor increased from 1 at mode 1 to 30 at mode 16. The theoretical estimate of eigenfrequency using the Elmer–Dreier model F.-J. Elmer and M. Dreier, J. Appl. Phys. 81, 12 1997 and Sader’s extended viscous ...

The authors have developed a wet, band-gap-selective, photoelectrochemical etching process capable of producing cantilever microelectromechanical systems from InGaN/GaN heterostructures. Fabricated cantilevers were successfully actuated, and resonance spectra were measured. The as-grown strain gradient in the GaN film was found to relax upon removal, resulting in upward curvature of the cantile...

We report a novel technique of micromechanical detection of trace amounts of calcium ions by using microcantilevers modified with ion-selective self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The SAM-modified microcantilevers undergo bending due to selective adsorption of calcium ions. Experiments conducted under flow conditions show that the modified cantilevers respond sensitively to calcium ions (Ca(2+));...

Direct imaging and quantification of actuation in nanostructures that undergo structural phase transitions could advance our understanding of collective phenomena in the solid state. Here, we demonstrate visualization of structural phase transition induced actuation in a model correlated insulator vanadium dioxide by in situ Fresnel contrast imaging of electron transparent cantilevers. We quant...

An actuation mode is presented to drive the mechanical oscillation of cantilevers for dynamic atomic force microscopy. The method is based on direct mechanical excitation of the cantilevers coated with amorphous Fe–B–N thin films, by means of the film magnetostriction, i.e., the dimensional change in the film when magnetized. These amorphous magnetostrictive Fe–B–N thin films exhibit soft magne...

This paper presents the fabrication technology for a novel class of photonic devices. This technology integrates silicon 2-D photonic crystal (PhC) waveguides and electrostatically actuated bimorph cantilevers with tips that are self-aligned relative to the holes of the PhC. The bimorph cantilevers modulate the propagation properties of the slab PhC depending on the proximity of the tips to the...

A simple and accurate experimental method is described for determining the effective cantilever spring constant and the detector sensitivity of atomic force microscopy cantilevers on which a colloidal particle is attached. By attaching large (approximately 85 microm diameter) latex particles at various positions along the V-shaped cantilevers, we demonstrate how the normal and lateral spring co...

The performance of atomic force microscopy cantilevers, as measured by the resonant frequency and spring constant, is directly dependent on the shape of the cantilever. Here we have improved the performance of conventional silicon nitride cantilevers by using focused ion beam milling to minimize the width of the cantilever legs. The resonant frequency in solution for any given spring constant i...

Cantilever array-based sensor devices widely utilise the laser-based optical deflection method for measuring static cantilever deflections mostly with home-built devices with individual geometries. In contrast to scanning probe microscopes, cantilever array devices have no additional positioning device like a piezo stage. As the cantilevers are used in more and more sensitive measurements, it i...

Magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) is a novel ultra-sensitive magnetic resonance detection scheme. In this scheme, forces are measured between a magnet-tipped cantilever and on-resonance spins. It has been proposed that this technique could be used to image biomolecules [1]. In order to increase the sensitivity of MRFM, it may become necessary to use radio-frequency (RF), rather than au...