Abstract
Since the invention in 1986 atomic force microscopy (AFM) has become the most widely used scanning probe microscopy (Binnig et al. in Phys Rev Lett 56:930–933, 1986). The microscope images the interaction of forces like Van der Waals or Coulomb forces between a sample and the apex of a small tip integrated near the free end of a flexible cantilever. But as all other scanning probe techniques the AFM requires serial data acquisition and suffers therefore from a low temporal resolution. Enhancing the speed to video rate imaging makes high demands on scanner technology, control electronics and on the key feature the cantilever with integrated sharp stylus. For the cantilever probes, fundamental resonance frequencies in the MHz regime are envisaged while the force constant of a few nN/nm shall be maintained. We present different novel AFM probes with ultrashort cantilevers and integrated sharp tips for high speed AFM while focusing on widely dispersed applications and on aspects of mass fabrication.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albrecht TR, Akamine S, Carver TE, Quate CF (1990) Microfabrication of cantilever styli for the atomic force microscope. J Vacuum Sci Technol A 8:3386–3396
Ando T et al (2005) High speed atomic force microscopy for capturing dynamic behavior of protein molecules at work. E J Surf Sci Nanotechnol 3:384–392
Binnig G, Quate CF, Gerber Ch (1986) Atomic force microscopy. Phys Rev Lett 56:930–933
Brugger J, Buser RA, de Rooij NF (1992) Silicon cantilevers and tips for scanning force microscopy. Sens Actuators 34:193–200
Butt HJ, Jaschke M (1995) Thermal noise in atomic force microscopy. Nanotechnology 6:1–7
Chand A, Viani MB, Schäffer TT, Hansma PK (2000) Microfabricated small metal cantilevers with silicon tip for atomic force microscopy. J Microelectromech Syst 9(1):112–116
Cleveland S, Manne S, Bocek D, Hansma PK (1993) A nondestructive method for determining the spring constant of cantilevers for scanning force microscopy. Rev Sci Instrum 64:403–405
Cook SM, Schaffer TE, Chynoweth KM, Wigton M, Simmonds RW, Lang KM (2006) Practical implementation of dynamic methods for measuring atomic force microscope cantilever spring constants. Nanotechnology 17:2135
Folch A, Wrighton S, Schmidt MA (1997) Microfabrication of ocidation-sharpened silicon tips on silicon nitride cantilevers for atomic force microscopy. J Microelectromech Syst 6:303–306
Hutter JL (2005) Comment of tilt of atomic force microscope cantilevers: effect on spring constant and adhesion measurements. Langmuir 21:2630–2632
Hutter JL, Bechhoefer J (1993) Calibration of atomic-force microscope tips. Rev Sci Inst 64(7):1868–1873
Irmer B, Simmel F, Bilck RH, Lorenz H, Kotthaus JP, Bichler M, Wegscheider W (1999) Nano-ploughed Josephson junction as on-chip radiation sources. Superlatices Nanostruct 25:785–795
Krause O, Lehrer C, Petersen S (2006) SPM-probe with an EBD-tip. European Patent, EP 1672648 A1
Lübbe J, Tröger J, Torbrügge S, Bechstein R, Richter C, Kühnle A, Reichling M (2010) Achieving high effective Q-factors in ultra-high vacuum dynamic force microscopy. Meas Sci Technol 21:125501
Morita S, Yamada H, Ando T (2007) Japan AFM roadmap 2006. Nanotechnology 18:1–10
Rogers B et al (2003) High speed tapping mode atomic force microscopy in liquid using an insulated piezoelectric cantilever. Rev Sci Instrum 74(11):4683–4686
Sader JE, Larson I, Mulvaney P, White LR (1995) Method for the calibration of atomic force microscope canitlevers. Rev Sci Instrum 66(7):3789–3798
Schiffmann K (1993) Investigation of fabrication parameters for the electron-beam-induced deposition of contamination tips used in atomic force microscopy. Nanotechnology 4:163
Sulzbach T, Krause O, Burri M, Detterbeck M, Irmer B, Penzkofer C (2010) “Method of manufacturing an SPM probe with a scanning tip and with an alignment aid located opposite the scanning tip” US Patent Application 20100095409
Tabak FC et al. (2010) MEMS-based fast scanning microscopes. Ultramicroscopy 110:599–604
The KS, Lin L (1999) Time-dependent buckling phenomena of polysilicon micro beams. Microelectr J 30:1169–1172
Viani M et al (1996) Small cantilevers for force spectroscopy of single molecules. J Appl Phys 86(4):2258–2262
Wendel M, Lorenz H, Kotthaus JP (1995) Sharpened electron beam deposited tips for high resolution atomic force microscope lithography and imaging. Appl Phys Lett 67:3732–3734
Ximen H, Russel P (1992) Microfabrication of AFM tips using focused ion and electron beam techniques. Ultramicroscopy 42–44:1526–1532
Yagi T, Shimada Y, Ikeda T, Takamatsu O, Takimoto K, Hirai Y (1997) A new method to fabricate metal tips for scanning probe microscopy. MEMS ’97, Proceedings, IEEE., Tenth Annual International Workshop on MEMS, pp 129–134
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Christoph Braunsmann and Alexander Tobisch from the Bioforce Group of Tilmann. Schäffer for performing the AFM measurements and the NanoWorld Services GmbH clean room staff for processing the cantilevers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Richter, C., Weinzierl, P., Engl, W. et al. Cantilever probes for high speed AFM. Microsyst Technol 18, 1119–1126 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-012-1454-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-012-1454-8