We proposed the method of using a multi-ball-cantilever AFM for measuring the surface profile of soft thin film. At first, we performed the computer simulation to verify the feasibility of this method. Then, we developed the multi-ball-cantilever AFM system using a multi-ball-cantilever that had 8 cantilevers in 2 mm and each cantilever had the ball stylus with 10.9 μm of diameter. The fundamen...

Using scanning laser Doppler vibrometer we have identified sources of noise in contact mode high-speed atomic force microscope images and the cantilever dynamics that cause them. By analysing reconstructed animations of the entire cantilever passing over various surfaces, we identified higher eigenmode oscillations along the cantilever as the cause of the image artefacts. We demonstrate that t...

Magnetic microactuation systems of torsion silicon cantilever is described. Devices are constructed in a batch fabrication process which combines electroplating with conventional photolithography , materials, and equipment. The magnetic transducers are applied to generation of motion in micromechanical structures such as cantilever, beam, membrane. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) with mag...

Cantilever array-based sensor devices widely utilise the laser-based optical deflection method for measuring static cantilever deflections mostly with home-built devices with individual geometries. In contrast to scanning probe microscopes, cantilever array devices have no additional positioning device like a piezo stage. As the cantilevers are used in more and more sensitive measurements, it i...

We simulated the quantum dynamics for magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) in the oscillating cantilever-driven adiabatic reversals (OSCAR) technique. We estimated the frequency shift of the cantilever vibrations and demonstrated that this shift causes the formation of a Schrödinger cat state which has some similarities and differences from the conventional MRFM technique which uses cycli...

The image quality and resolution of the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) operating in tapping mode is dependent on the quality (Q) factor of the sensing micro-cantilever. Increasing the cantilever Q factor improves image resolution and reduces the risk of sample and cantilever damage. Active piezoelectric shunt control is introduced in this work as a new technique for modifying the Q factor of a p...

We report on progress in the fabrication of cantilever arrays with tips. The process features only one lithographic step for the definition of both the tips and cantilevers. The tips have a uniform height distribution and are placed by selfalignment on the cantilever. The arrays are fabricated for an optical readout technique under development in which the cantilever arrays serve as diffraction...

Femtomolar concentrations of hydrogen fluoride, a decomposition component of nerve agents, were detected using a SiO(2) microcantilever. The microcantilever underwent bending due to the reaction of HF with SiO(2). The microcantilever deflection increased as the concentration of HF increased. Other acids, such as HCl, had no effect on the deflection of the cantilever. The mechanism of reaction-i...

The role of the cantilever in quantitative Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) is rigorously analyzed. We use the boundary element method to calculate the point spread function of the measuring probe: Tip and cantilever. The calculations show that the cantilever has a very strong effect on the absolute value of the measured contact potential difference even under ultra-high vacuum conditions, ...

In atomic force microscopy, cantilevers with a reflective coating are often used to reduce optical shot noise for deflection detection. However, static AFM experiments can be limited by classical noise and therefore may not benefit from a reduction in shot noise. Furthermore, the cantilever coating has the detrimental side-effect of coupling light power fluctuations into true cantilever bending...