Atomic force microscopes typically require knowledge of the cantilever spring constant and optical lever sensitivity in order to accurately determine the force from the cantilever deflection. In this study, we investigate a technique to calibrate the optical lever sensitivity of rectangular cantilevers that does not require contact to be made with a surface. This noncontact approach utilizes th...

v-shaped and triangular cantilevers are widely employed in atomic force microscope (afm) imaging techniques due to their stability. for the design of vibration control systems of afm cantilevers which utilize patched piezo actuators, obtaining an accurate system model is indispensable prior to acquiring the information related to natural modes. a general differential quadrature element method (...

An approach to image the domains and domain walls of small ferromagnetic entities using atomic force microscopy ~AFM!, with a nonmagnetic AFM probe, has been developed. Exciting the sample in an external ac magnetic field, the distribution of magnetostrictive response at the surface is detected. By this technique, the domains and domain walls of submicron Co dots have been imaged with a 1 nm la...

We present ab initio simulations of AFM image formation in the non-contact regime for prototypical reactive semiconductor and metal surfaces: InP(1 1 0)-1 1 and Cu(0 0 1). For the reactive surface the effect of tip morphology of the tip apex was also studied. The nature of the tip apex alters the local tip reactivity and can lead to reversal of the apparent AFM surface corrugation. We find that...

AFM allows the visualization of biological samples under physiological solution conditions, at high spatial resolution. However, captured images are limited to snapshots because it takes at least 30 seconds to capture an image, whereas biological phenomena are highly dynamic. To overcome this limitation, my group has developed high-speed AFM. The dynamic processes and structural dynamics of pro...

In this study AFM technique has been used to observe the degradation of cellulose fibres in paper samples used as substrata for the growth of a filamentous fungus known to be responsible for damage to art works made from or supported on paper. Images obtained from the analysis of artificially deteriorated samples have been used for comparison with topographies obtained by AFM from naturally aff...

The recently developed AFM local anodic oxidation (LAO) technique offers a convenient way of patterning nanodevices, but imposes even more stringent requirements on the underlying quantum well structure. We developed a new very shallow quantum well design which allows the depth and density of the 2D gas to be independently controlled during the growth. A high mobility (0.5×106 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 4....

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) techniques are used with oneor two-dimensional arrays of piezoresistive probes for parallel imaging. We present a newly designed AFM platform to drive these passivated piezoresistive cantilever arrays in air and liquid environments. Large area imaging in liquid as well as qualitative and quantitative analysis of biological cells are demonstrated by the means of pie...

The atomic force microscope (AFM) and its derivative technologies have heralded a new era in science and technology. AFM and related instruments were primarily designed by physicists. In recent years there is a substantial presence of engineers with controls and systems background who are contributing to AFM related technologies. This article provides a tutorial on the control and systems appro...