Detection of Atomic Force Microscopy Cantilever Displacement with a Transmitted Electron Beam

Published

July 29, 2016

Author(s)

Ryan B. Wagner, Taylor J. Woehl, Robert R. Keller, Jason P. Killgore

Abstract

Cantilever motion in atomic force microscopy (AFM) systems is typically measured with an optical lever system. The response time of AFM cantilevers can be decreased by reducing the size of the cantilever; however, the fastest AFM cantilevers are currently nearing the smallest size that can be detected with the optical lever approach. Here we demonstrate an electron beam detection scheme for measuring AFM cantilever oscillations. The oscillating AFM tip is positioned perpendicular to a stationary nanometer sized electron beam probe. As the tip oscillates, the thickness of material scattering the electron beam modulates, causing a fluctuation in the number of transmitted electrons that are detected. We demonstrate detection of sub-nanometer vibration amplitudes with a nanometer-scale electron beam probe, providing a pathway for dynamic AFM with cantilevers that are orders of magnitude smaller and faster than the current state of the art.

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Atomic Force Microscopy, Transmission Scanning Electron Microscopy

Citation

Wagner, R. , Woehl, T. , Keller, R. and Killgore, J. (2016), Detection of Atomic Force Microscopy Cantilever Displacement with a Transmitted Electron Beam, Applied Physics Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=920462 (Accessed October 13, 2024)