Compensation of Scanner Creep and Hysteresis for AFM Nanomanipulation

TLDR

Nanomanipulation with atomic force microscopes (AFMs) for nanoparticles on the order of 10 nm has been hampered by large spatial uncertainties in tip positioning. This paper addresses the compensation of nonlinear effects of creep and hysteresis on the piezo scanners that drive most AFMs. Creep and hysteresis are modeled as a superposition of fundamental operators, and their inverse model is obtained using the inversion properties of the Prandtl–Ishlinskii operator; the forward‑model parameters are identified from sample topography without position sensors, enabling an open‑loop, feedforward control scheme. Experimental results show that this approach effectively reduces spatial uncertainties associated with creep and hysteresis, enabling automated, computer‑controlled manipulation operations that would otherwise fail.

Abstract

Nanomanipulation with atomic force microscopes (AFMs) for nanoparticles with overall sizes on the order of 10 nm has been hampered in the past by the large spatial uncertainties encountered in tip positioning. This paper addresses the compensation of nonlinear effects of creep and hysteresis on the piezo scanners which drive most AFMs. Creep and hysteresis are modeled as the superposition of fundamental operators, and their inverse model is obtained by using the inversion properties of the Prandtl-Ishlinskii operator. Identification of the parameters in the forward model is achieved by a novel method that uses the topography of the sample and does not require position sensors. The identified parameters are used to compute the inverse model, which in turn serves to drive the AFM in an open-loop, feedforward scheme. Experimental results show that this approach effectively reduces the spatial uncertainties associated with creep and hysteresis, and supports automated, computer-controlled manipulation operations that otherwise would fail.