Variations in the mechanical properties of nominally identical V-shaped atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilevers sourced from the same silicon nitride wafer have been quantified by measuring the spring constants, resonant frequencies and quality factors of 101 specimens as received from the manufacturer using the thermal spectrum method of Hutter and Bechhoefer. The addition of thin gold coati...

In this contribution we present the compositional dependence of the longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient (d33,f), residual stress and Young’s modulus of Pb(Zrx,Ti1−x)O3 (PZT) thin films. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) was used to deposit epitaxial PZT thin films with a < 110 > preferred orientation on silicon cantilevers. By using PLD, excellent piezoelectric properties of the PZT were observe...

I developed a wideband low-noise optical beam deflection sensor with a photothermal cantilever excitation system for liquid-environment atomic force microscopy. The developed sensor has a 10 MHz bandwidth and 4.7 fm/sq.rt.Hz deflection noise density in water. The theoretically limited noise performance (i.e., the noise level limited only by the photodiode shot noise) has been achieved in liquid...

Nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) microcantilevers are fabricated and MIL-53 (Al) metal-organic framework (MOF) layers are directly synthesized on each cantilever surface by using the aluminum oxide as the metal ion source. Exposure of the MIL53-AAO cantilevers to various concentrations of CO2, N2, CO, and Ar induces changes in their deflections and resonance frequencies. The results of th...

A new mechanical filter structure is presented which comprises two silicon cantilevers mechanically coupled by a silicon linkage with thin film piezoelectric transducers providing electrical input and output signals. The resonance behaviour of such a structure results in a bandpass filter response, having a band-width determined by the frequency separation between the closely spaced in-phase an...