U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

PUBLICATIONS

Calibration of Microfabricated Cantilevers for SI-Traceable Small Force Measurement

Published

Author(s)

Gordon A. Shaw, Jon R. Pratt, John A. Kramar

Abstract

A procedure is described by which the spring constant of a microfabricated cantilever beam can be calibrated for the measurement of small forces in an atomic force microscope (AFM) or other device. The procedure utilizes dynamic force instrumented indentation to determine the mechanical properties of the beam by apply a well-characterized oscillating force and measuring resulting displacement of the system. An uncertainty analysis is carried out, and by intercomparison with the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Electrostatic Force Balance, the spring constants determined using the new method agree within 2% for spring constants as low as 2 N/m.
Conference Dates
September 17-22, 2006
Conference Location
Rio Janeiro, BR
Conference Title
IMEKO XVIII World Congress
Pub Type
Conferences

Keywords

calibration, dynamics, force, indentation, metrology, nanotechnology, scanning probe micorscopy
Force metrology

Citation

Shaw, G. , Pratt, J. and Kramar, J. (2006), Calibration of Microfabricated Cantilevers for SI-Traceable Small Force Measurement, IMEKO XVIII World Congress, Rio Janeiro, BR (Accessed April 1, 2025)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created January 1, 2006, Updated February 19, 2017