Since its invention in 1986 by Binnig, Quate, and Gerber, the atomic force microscope (AFM) has proven to be an extremely useful tool for examining the interactions of proteins with surfaces. Fibrinogen in particular has been used as a model protein to demonstrate new methodologies for studying protein behavior with AFM due to its unique size, shape, and function. Indeed, fibrinogen's central r...

The measurement of the physical properties of surfaces on the nanoscale is a long-standing problem, and the atomic force microscope (AFM) has enabled the investigation of surface energies and mechanical properties over a range of length scales. The ability to measure these properties for softer materials presents a challenge when interpreting data obtained from such measurements, in particular ...

We describe an atomic force microscope (AFM) for the characterization of self-sensing tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) cantilevers. Furthermore, we achieve a large scan-range with a nested scanner design of two independent piezo scanners: a small high resolution scanner with a scan range of 5 × 5 × 5 μm(3) is mounted on a large-area scanner with a scan range of 800 × 800 × 35 μm(3). In order to...

The free boundary of smectic A (SmA), nematic and isotropic liquid phases were studied using a polarized optical microscope, an interferometric surface structure analyzer (ISSA), an atomic force microscope (AFM) and a scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM). Images of the SmA phase free surface obtained by the polarized microscope and ISSA are in good correlation and show a well-known foc...

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a three-dimensional topographic technique with a high atomic resolution to measure surface roughness. AFM is a kind of scanning probe microscope, and its near-field technique is based on the interaction between a sharp tip and the atoms of the sample surface. There are several methods and many ways to modify the tip of the AFM to investigate surface properties, ...

An atomic force microscope ~AFM! with an ultrasharp tip was used to directly measure the sidewall profile of InP/InGaAsP waveguide structures etched using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching ~ICP-RIE! in Cl2-based plasma. A special staircase pattern was devised to allow AFM tip to access the etched sidewall of the waveguides in the normal direction. Statistical information such a...

V-shaped cantilevers are used widely in the atomic force microscope ~AFM! due to their perceived enhanced resistance to lateral forces in comparison to rectangular cantilevers. In this article, we rigorously investigate this premise, and in so doing establish that, contrary to established operating principles and intuition, V-shaped AFM cantilevers are generally more prone to the effects of lat...

A new micro-XRF instrument was developed in combination with an atomic force microscope (AFM). A small pinhole of 5 or 10 μm was made on the AFM cantilever. The center of the micro X-ray beam generated by a polycapillary X-ray lens was passed through the pinhole. The present experiment demonstrated that the size of the original X-ray beam of 48 μm produced by the polycapillary lens was reduced ...

The analysis of the static deflection of cantilever plates is of fundamental importance in application to the atomic force microscope (AFM). In this paper we present a detailed theoretical study of the deflection of such cantilevers. This~ shall incorporate the presentation of approximate analytical methods applicable in the analysis of arbitrary cantilevers, and a discussion of their limitatio...