We have developed a new hybrid AFM probe combining an SU-8 polymer body with a full tungsten cantilever having a nanometric tip. The fabrication is based on surface micromachining a silicon wafer, where tungsten is sputter deposited in oxidation sharpened moulds to yield sharp tips with radius below 20 nm. The material properties of tungsten were measured, yielding a hardness of 14 GPa, a speci...

Scanning rates of the atomic force microscope (AFM) could be significantly increased by integrating the force sensing probe with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). We present a micromachining method for batch fabrication of in-plane AFM probes that consist of an ultra-sharp silicon nitride tip on a single crystal silicon cantilever. Our fabrication method is fully compatible with the silico...

After the successful design and fabrication of a single-probe nanofountain pen, a second-generation device with two on-chip ink reservoirs feeding a linear array of 12 microfluidic cantilever probes was manufactured. The new device excels by sharper and more uniform tips, more robust fabrication and improved performance in writing and imaging. Its capabilities in writing sub-100 nm features and...

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Using small angle neutron scattering (SANS), it is shown that the existence of pre-assembled structures at high pH for a capped diphenylalanine hydrogel is controlled by the selection of N-terminal heterocyclic capping group, namely indole or carbazole. At high pH, changing from a somewhat hydrophilic indole capping group to a more hydrophobic carbazole capping group results in a shift from a h...

Mapping of the protein structural flexibility with sub-2-nm spatial resolution in liquid is achieved by combining bimodal excitation and frequency modulation force microscopy. The excitation of two cantilever eigenmodes in dynamic force microscopy enables the separation between topography and flexibility mapping. We have measured variations of the elastic modulus in a single antibody pentamer f...

A cantilever type has been developed for dynamic force microscopy by the addition of a harmonic oscillator in the form of a paddle to atomic force microscopy cantilevers. These cantilevers provide resonant amplification of periodic interactions between the probe and the substrate when the laser is aligned on the paddle. The cantilevers were explored for their use in piezoresponse force microsco...

Scanning electrochemical microscopy ~SECM! has been integrated with electrochemical atomic force microscopy ~EC-AFM!, and applied for in situ studies of localized corrosion of Al alloys in NaCl solution. The instrument utilizes a dual mode probe, which functions both as a normal cantilever and as an ultramicroelectrode. The I −/I 3 − redox mediator was used for mapping of local electrochemical ...

This paper introduces a new pedagogical tool using haptic feedback and visual analogy, to improve perception and learning of nanoscale phenomena, for people without prior knowledge of nanophysics. This tool is a haptic and virtual-reality simulator of a foremost onedimensional nanophysical phenomenon: the approach-retract cycle of an Atomic Force Microcope (AFM) probe, with a force-feedback dev...