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Components for high speed atomic force microscopy
Many applications in materials science, life science and process control would benefit from atomic force microscopes (AFM) with higher scan speeds. To achieve this, the performance of many of the AFM components has to be increased. In this work, we focus on the cantilever sensor, the scanning unit a...
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Published in: | Ultramicroscopy 2006-06, Vol.106 (8), p.881-887 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Many applications in materials science, life science and process control would benefit from atomic force microscopes (AFM) with higher scan speeds. To achieve this, the performance of many of the AFM components has to be increased. In this work, we focus on the cantilever sensor, the scanning unit and the data acquisition. We manufactured
10
μ
m
wide cantilevers which combine high resonance frequencies with low spring constants (160–360
kHz with spring constants of 1–5
pN/nm). For the scanning unit, we developed a new scanner principle, based on stack piezos, which allows the construction of a scanner with
15
μ
m
scan range while retaining high resonance frequencies
(
>
10
kHz
)
. To drive the AFM at high scan speeds and record the height and error signal, we implemented a fast Data Acquisition (DAQ) system based on a commercial DAQ card and a LabView user interface capable of recording 30 frames per second at
150
×
150
pixels
. |
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ISSN: | 0304-3991 1879-2723 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.ultramic.2006.01.015 |