Components for high speed atomic force microscopy

We have developed a liquid-environment atomic force microscope with a wideband and low-noise scanning system for atomic-scale imaging of dynamic processes at solid/liquid interfaces. The developed scanning system consists of a separate-type scanner and a wideband high-voltage amplifier (HVA). By separating an XY-sample scanner from a Z-tip scanner, we have enabled to use a relatively large sample without compromising the high resonance frequency. We compared various cantileverand sample-holding mechanisms by experiments and finite element analyses for optimizing the balance between the usability and frequency response characteristics. We specifically designed the HVA to drive the developed scanners, which enabled to achieve the positioning accuracy of 5.7 and 0.53 pm in the XY and Z axes, respectively. Such an excellent noise performance allowed us to perform atomic-resolution imaging of mica and calcite in liquid. Furthermore, we demonstrate in situ and atomic-resolution imaging of the calcite crystal growth process in water. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx

Section: Separate-type High-speed Scannermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7 Hansma et al used a parallel flexure stage to enhance the resonance frequency of the XY scanner. [9][10][11] Subsequently, the design has been further improved by other researchers. 12, 13 Tabak et al developed a micrometer-sized Z scanner with an integrated tip for obtaining a high resonance frequency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separate-type scanner and wideband high-voltage amplifier for atomic-resolution and high-speed atomic force microscopy

Miyata

Usho

Yamada

et al. 2013

“…High-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) was established around 2008 1 through long-range efforts to increase the response speed of cantilevers, 2,3 the scanner, [4][5][6][7] and electronics, 1,2,8 as well as to make the high-speed performance compatible with low-invasiveness to fragile samples 9 (see reviews 1,10,11 ). This established HS-AFM has mainly been used to observe protein molecules in dynamic action at sub-100 ms to subsecond time resolution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Method of mechanical holding of cantilever chip for tip-scan high-speed atomic force microscope

Fukuda

Uchihashi

Ando

2015

Articles you may be interested in Note: High-speed Z tip scanner with screw cantilever holding mechanism for atomic-resolution atomic force microscopy in liquid Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 126106 (2014) In tip-scan atomic force microscopy (AFM) that scans a cantilever chip in the three dimensions, the chip body is held on the Z-scanner with a holder. However, this holding is not easy for high-speed (HS) AFM because the holder that should have a small mass has to be able to clamp the cantilever chip firmly without deteriorating the Z-scanner's fast performance, and because repeated exchange of cantilever chips should not damage the Z-scanner. This is one of the reasons that tip-scan HS-AFM has not been established, despite its advantages over sample stage-scan HS-AFM. Here, we present a novel method of cantilever chip holding which meets all conditions required for tip-scan HS-AFM. The superior performance of this novel chip holding mechanism is demonstrated by imaging of the α 3 β 3 subcomplex of F 1 -ATPase in dynamic action at ∼7 frames/s. C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx

“…1 If the speed of imaging could be increased to the video rate, AFM would be regarded as one of the most elegant techniques for monitoring dynamic process such as crystallization and biological process in nanometer scale as well as fast nanolithography. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] During the past decade, many efforts have been made in the technical areas including increasing lateral scanning speed, 7 improving the algorithm of feedback in z-direction, 9 designing new cantilever with smaller dimension, 10 and so forth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cantilevered bimorph-based scanner for high speed atomic force microscopy with large scanning range

Zhou

Shang

Cai

et al. 2010

A cantilevered bimorph-based resonance-mode scanner for high speed atomic force microscope ͑AFM͒ imaging is presented. The free end of the bimorph is used for mounting a sample stage and the other one of that is fixed on the top of a conventional single tube scanner. High speed scanning is realized with the bimorph-based scanner vibrating at resonant frequency driven by a sine wave voltage applied to one piezolayer of the bimorph, while slow scanning is performed by the tube scanner. The other piezolayer provides information on vibration amplitude and phase of the bimorph itself simultaneously, which is used for real-time data processing and image calibration. By adjusting the free length of the bimorph, the line scan rate can be preset ranging from several hundred hertz to several kilohertz, which would be beneficial for the observation of samples with different properties. Combined with a home-made AFM system and a commercially available data acquisition card, AFM images of various samples have been obtained, and as an example, images of the silicon grating taken at a line rate of 1.5 kHz with the scan size of 20 m are given. By manually moving the sample of polished Al foil surface while scanning, the capability of dynamic imaging is demonstrated.