A method for determining the spring constant of cantilevers for atomic force microscopy

Torii, Akihiro; Sasaki, Minoru; Hane, Kazuhiro; Okuma, Shigeru

doi:10.1088/0957-0233/7/2/010

Cited by 265 publications

(185 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(22 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

176

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For this transformation, the spring constant of the cantilever is essential. We determined the spring constant by the method of measuring a force-distance-curve with the unknown cantilever against a reference with known spring constant as described previously [7]. The spring constant of the reference cantilever was determined by analyzing the resonance frequency of the cantilever with the Sader method [8].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new method for the analysis of compaction processes in high-porosity agglomerates

et al. 2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mechanical properties of high-porous microscopic agglomerates have been investigated. For this purpose we installed an atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) using a nanomanipulator. The nanomanipulator is piezoelectric controlled with increments of 5 nm in the rotational and 0.5 nm in the translational direction. Thus, this tool allows the precise positioning and movement of an AFM cantilever under SEM observation. Depending on the spring constant of the cantilever and the step size of the motion-both quantities determining the sensitivity of the instrument-different aspects of the deformation of dust-aggregate structures, e.g., the behaviour of single particle chains, can be analysed.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new method for the analysis of compaction processes in high-porosity agglomerates

et al. 2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The inset pictures show SEM images of the SiO 2 microsphere and its cantilever. Using a calibration probe with a force constant of 2.957 N/m, the normal spring constants of the cantilever of SiO 2 tips were calibrated to be 10.5-13.8 N/m [13]. If not specially mentioned, the applied normal load F n was 5 μN, the sliding speed was 0.8 m/s, the number of sliding cycles was 2000, and the displacement amplitude D was 100 nm.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Running-in process of Si-SiO x /SiO2 pair at nanoscale—Sharp drops in friction and wear rate during initial cycles

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Using an atomic force microscope, the running-in process of a single crystalline silicon wafer coated with native oxide layer (Si-SiO x ) against a SiO 2 microsphere was investigated under various normal loads and displacement amplitudes in ambient air. As the number of sliding cycles increased, both the friction force F t of the Si-SiO x /SiO 2 pair and the wear rate of the silicon surface showed sharp drops during the initial 50 cycles and then leveled off in the remaining cycles. The sharp drop in F t appeared to be induced mainly by the reduction of adhesion-related interfacial force between the Si-SiO x /SiO 2 pair. During the running-in process, the contact area of the Si-SiO x /SiO 2 pair might become hydrophobic due to removal of the hydrophilic oxide layer on the silicon surface and the surface change of the SiO 2 tip, which caused the reduction of friction force and the wear rate of the Si-SiO x /SiO 2 pair. A phenomenological model is proposed to explain the running-in process of the Si-SiO x /SiO 2 pair in ambient air. The results may help us understand the mechanism of the running-in process of the Si-SiO x /SiO 2 pair at nanoscale and reduce wear failure in dynamic microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

show abstract

“…One possible way is to use a large-scale cantilever for which the spring constant can be calculated using Eq.3-2, as the reference cantilever (A. Torii et al 1996) [167]. The deflection of the AFM cantilever to be calibrated and the force applied by the reference cantilever allow to calculate the spring constant using Hooke's law.…”

Section: Reference Spring Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(a) (b) Fig.3.9 Schematic setup for spring constant calibration using a reference cantilever, (a) before approach and (b) during contact [167].…”

Section: Reference Spring Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Adhesion between Fine Particles and Nanocontacts: An Atomic Force Microscope Study

et al. 2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To optimize the handling of fine powders in industrial applications, understanding the interaction forces between single powder particles is fundamental. The forces between colloidal particles dominate the behavior of a great variety of materials, including paints, paper, soil, and many industrial processes. With the invention of the atomic force microscope (AFM), the direct measurement of the interaction between single micron-sized particles became possible. The adhesional contact between a particle and a substrate is a parameter for analyzing pull-off force data generated by AFM. The aim of this study was to understand surface interactions between fine particles. I measured the adhesion forces between AFM tips or particles attached to AFM cantilevers and different solid samples. Smooth and homogeneous surfaces such as silicon wafer, mica, or highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), and more rough and heterogeneous surfaces such as iron particles or patterns of TiO 2 nanoparticles on silicon wafer were used. First, I addressed to the wellknown issue that AFM adhesion experiment results show wide distributions of adhesion forces rather than a single value. My experimental results show that variations in adhesion forces comprise fast (i.e., from one force curves to the next) random fluctuations and slower fluctuations, which occur over tens or hundreds of consecutive measurements. Slow fluctuations are not likely to be the result of variations in external factors such as lateral position, temperature, humidity, and so forth because those were kept constant. Even if two solid bodies are brought into contact under precisely the same conditions (same place, load, direction, etc.) the result of such a measurement will often not be the same as for the previous contact. The measurement itself will induce structural changes in the contact region which can change the value for the next adhesion force measurement.In the second part I studied the influence of humidity on the adhesion of nanocontacts. Humidity was adjusted relatively fast to minimize tip wear during one experiment. For hydrophobic surfaces, no signification change of adhesion force with humidity was observed. Adhesion force-versus-humidity curves recorded with hydrophilic surfaces either showed a maximum or continuously increased. I demonstrate that the results can be interpreted with simple continuum theory of the meniscus force. The meniscus force is calculated based on a model that includes surface roughness and takes into account different AFM tip (or particle) shapes by a two-sphere-model.Experimental and theoretical results show that the precise contact geometry has a critical influence on the humidity dependence of the adhesion force.Changes of tip geometry on the sub-10-nm length scale can completely change adhesion force-versus-humidity curves. Our model can also explain the differences between earlier AFM studies, where different dependencies of the adhesion force on humidity were observed.Keywords: Atomic force microscopy (AFM), cantile...

show abstract

A method for determining the spring constant of cantilevers for atomic force microscopy

Cited by 265 publications

References 16 publications

A new method for the analysis of compaction processes in high-porosity agglomerates

A new method for the analysis of compaction processes in high-porosity agglomerates

Running-in process of Si-SiO x /SiO2 pair at nanoscale—Sharp drops in friction and wear rate during initial cycles

On the Adhesion between Fine Particles and Nanocontacts: An Atomic Force Microscope Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About