A mechanical microscope: High-speed atomic force microscopy

Abstract

An atomic force microscope capable of obtaining images in less than 20ms is presented. By utilizing a microresonator as a scan stage, and through the implementation of a passive mechanical feedback loop with a bandwidth of more than 2MHz, a 1000-fold increase in image acquisition rate relative to a conventional atomic force microscope is obtained. This has allowed images of soft crystalline and molten polymer surfaces to be collected in 14.3ms, with a tip velocity of 22.4cms−1 while maintaining nanometer resolution.