The Moving Finger Writes: Carbon Nanotubes as AFM Probe Tips

After carbon nanotubes (CNT) were discovered in 1991, many applications have been proposed that utilize their extraordinary electrical and mechanical properties. One application is as tips for scanning probe microscopy where CNTs offer several advantages including high resolution and the capability to image deep, narrow structures. A recent study of CNT scanning probes for atomic force microscopy (AFM) in semiconductor surface science concluded that an AFM with CNT tips has immense potential as a surface characterization tool in integrated circuit manufacture. Previously researchers had to construct their own CNT probes, but recently CNT AFM probes have become commercially available.Carbon nanotubes (sometimes called buckytubes) are closed seamless shells ot graphitic carbon typically one to tens of nanometers in diameter and several micrometers long. The structure of a closed-dome single-walled nanotube is illustrated in Figure 1. Carbon nanotube probe tips offer several advantages.

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AFM Capabilities in Characterization of Particle Nanocomposites: From Angstroms to Microns

Multifunctional Nanocomposites ◽

10.1115/mn2006-17020 ◽

2006 ◽

Author(s):

Paul West ◽

Natasha Starostina

Keyword(s):

Scanning Probe Microscopy ◽

Surface Characterization ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

3D Display ◽

Ambient Conditions ◽

Force Microscopy ◽

Atomic Force ◽

Direct Measurements ◽

Standard Set

Scanning Probe Microscopy has been routinely employed as a surface characterization technique for nearly 20 years. Atomic Force Microscopy, the most widely used subset of SPM, can be performed in ambient conditions with minimum sample preparation. AFM is able to measure three-dimensional topography information from the angstrom level to the micron scale, with unprecedented resolution. This paper reviews the most common examples of nanoparticle composite evaluation with an AFM. AFM is well suited for dispersion strengthened composite characterization. A standard set of measured parameters includes: volume, In general, AFM nanocomposite characterization is both cost and time effective, as well as easier to use than electron microscopy. The resolution of AFM is greater than or comparable to SEM/TEM, and the strong advantages of AFM for nanoparticle composite characterization include morphology measurement along with direct measurements of height, volume and 3D display.

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Development of the UHV-STM

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100180367 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (1) ◽

pp. 322-323

Author(s):

M. Iwatsuki ◽

S. Kitamura ◽

A. Mogami

Keyword(s):

Surface Science ◽

Real Space ◽

Atomic Scale ◽

Scanning Tunneling ◽

Great Promise ◽

Force Microscopy ◽

Atomic Force ◽

Stm Image ◽

Surface Construction ◽

Very High

Since Binnig, Rohrer and associates observed real-space topographic images of Si(111)-7×7 and invented the scanning tunneling microscope (STM),1) the STM has been accepted as a powerful surface science instrument.Recently, many application areas for the STM have been opened up, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), magnetic force microscopy (MFM) and others. So, the STM technology holds a great promise for the future.The great advantages of the STM are its high spatial resolution in the lateral and vertical directions on the atomic scale. However, the STM has difficulty in identifying atomic images in a desired area because it uses piezoelectric (PZT) elements as a scanner.On the other hand, the demand to observe specimens under UHV condition has grown, along with the advent of the STM technology. The requirment of UHV-STM is especially very high in to study of surface construction of semiconductors and superconducting materials on the atomic scale. In order to improve the STM image quality by keeping the specimen and tip surfaces clean, we have built a new UHV-STM (JSTM-4000XV) system which is provided with other surface analysis capability.

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Magnetic Driven Two-Finger Micro-Hand with Soft Magnetic End-Effector for Force-Controlled Stable Manipulation in Microscale

Micromachines ◽

10.3390/mi12040410 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 410

Author(s):

Dan Liu ◽

Xiaoming Liu ◽

Pengyun Li ◽

Xiaoqing Tang ◽

Masaru Kojima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Force ◽

Force Feedback ◽

Soft Magnetic ◽

End Effector ◽

Force Microscopy ◽

System A ◽

Atomic Force ◽

Afm Probe ◽

End Effectors ◽

Fixed End

In recent years, micromanipulators have provided the ability to interact with micro-objects in industrial and biomedical fields. However, traditional manipulators still encounter challenges in gaining the force feedback at the micro-scale. In this paper, we present a micronewton force-controlled two-finger microhand with a soft magnetic end-effector for stable grasping. In this system, a homemade electromagnet was used as the driving device to execute micro-objects manipulation. There were two soft end-effectors with diameters of 300 μm. One was a fixed end-effector that was only made of hydrogel, and the other one was a magnetic end-effector that contained a uniform mixture of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and paramagnetic particles. The magnetic force on the soft magnetic end-effector was calibrated using an atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe. The performance tests demonstrated that the magnetically driven soft microhand had a grasping range of 0–260 μm, which allowed a clamping force with a resolution of 0.48 μN. The stable grasping capability of the magnetically driven soft microhand was validated by grasping different sized microbeads, transport under different velocities, and assembly of microbeads. The proposed system enables force-controlled manipulation, and we believe it has great potential in biological and industrial micromanipulation.

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SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY BASED NANOSCALE PATTERNING AND FABRICATION

COSMOS ◽

10.1142/s0219607707000207 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 03 (01) ◽

pp. 1-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

XIAN NING XIE ◽

HONG JING CHUNG ◽

ANDREW THYE SHEN WEE

Keyword(s):

Integrated Circuits ◽

Scanning Probe Microscopy ◽

Scanning Probe ◽

Scanning Tunneling ◽

Tunneling Microscopy ◽

Force Microscopy ◽

Nanoscale Patterning ◽

Atomic Force ◽

Probe Microscope ◽

Molecular Manipulation

Nanotechnology is vital to the fabrication of integrated circuits, memory devices, display units, biochips and biosensors. Scanning probe microscope (SPM) has emerged to be a unique tool for materials structuring and patterning with atomic and molecular resolution. SPM includes scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In this chapter, we selectively discuss the atomic and molecular manipulation capabilities of STM nanolithography. As for AFM nanolithography, we focus on those nanopatterning techniques involving water and/or air when operated in ambient. The typical methods, mechanisms and applications of selected SPM nanolithographic techniques in nanoscale structuring and fabrication are reviewed.

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Topological, chemical and electro-optical characteristics of riboflavin-doped artificial and natural DNA thin films

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.171179 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 171179 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Bramaramba Gnapareddy ◽

Sreekantha Reddy Dugasani ◽

Junyoung Son ◽

Sung Ha Park

Keyword(s):

Thin Films ◽

Photonic Devices ◽

Uv Absorption ◽

Optical Characteristics ◽

Force Microscopy ◽

Atomic Force ◽

Functionalized Nanomaterials ◽

Amorphous Structures ◽

The Fourier Transform ◽

Immense Potential

DNA is considered as a useful building bio-material, and it serves as an efficient template to align functionalized nanomaterials. Riboflavin (RF)-doped synthetic double-crossover DNA (DX-DNA) lattices and natural salmon DNA (SDNA) thin films were constructed using substrate-assisted growth and drop-casting methods, respectively, and their topological, chemical and electro-optical characteristics were evaluated. The critical doping concentrations of RF ([RF] C , approx. 5 mM) at given concentrations of DX-DNA and SDNA were obtained by observing the phase transition (from crystalline to amorphous structures) of DX-DNA and precipitation of SDNA in solution above [RF] C . [RF] C are verified by analysing the atomic force microscopy images for DX-DNA and current, absorbance and photoluminescence (PL) for SDNA. We study the physical characteristics of RF-embedded SDNA thin films, using the Fourier transform infrared spectrum to understand the interaction between the RF and DNA molecules, current to evaluate the conductance, absorption to understand the RF binding to the DNA and PL to analyse the energy transfer between the RF and DNA. The current and UV absorption band of SDNA thin films decrease up to [RF] C followed by an increase above [RF] C . By contrast, the PL intensity illustrates the reverse trend, as compared to the current and UV absorption behaviour as a function of the varying [RF]. Owing to the intense PL characteristic of RF, the DNA lattices and thin films with RF might offer immense potential to develop efficient bio-sensors and useful bio-photonic devices.

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Nanomanipulation by atomic force microscopy of carbon nanotubes on a nanostructured surface

Surface Science ◽

10.1016/s0039-6028(03)00919-1 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 543 (1-3) ◽

pp. 57-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

S. Decossas ◽

L. Patrone ◽

A.M. Bonnot ◽

F. Comin ◽

M. Derivaz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Nanotubes ◽

Atomic Force Microscopy ◽

Nanostructured Surface ◽

Force Microscopy ◽

Atomic Force

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Measurement of Plasticity Gradients with Scanning Probe Microscopy

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-318-401 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 318 ◽

Author(s):

James D. Kiely ◽

Dawn A. Bonnell

Keyword(s):

Fracture Surface ◽

Scanning Probe Microscopy ◽

Scanning Probe ◽

Scanning Tunneling ◽

Ceramic System ◽

Force Microscopy ◽

Metal Fracture ◽

Atomic Force ◽

Metal Ceramic

ABSTRACTScanning Tunneling and Atomic Force Microscopy were used to characterize the topography of fractured Au /sapphire interfaces. Variance analysis which quantifies surface morphology was developed and applied to the characterization of the metal fracture surface of the metal/ceramic system. Fracture surface features related to plasticity were quantified and correlated to the fracture energy and energy release rate.

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Simultaneous acquisition of current and lateral force signals during AFM for characterising the piezoelectric and triboelectric effects of ZnO nanorods

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-82506-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yijun Yang ◽

Kwanlae Kim

Keyword(s):

Linear Regression Analysis ◽

Zno Nanorods ◽

Lateral Force ◽

Mechanical Force ◽

Force Microscopy ◽

Atomic Force ◽

Simultaneous Acquisition ◽

Afm Probe ◽

Triboelectric Effect ◽

Conversion Efficiencies

AbstractAtomic force microscopy (AFM) is central to investigating the piezoelectric potentials of one-dimensional nanomaterials. The AFM probe is used to deflect individual piezoelectric nanorods and to measure the resultant current. However, the torsion data of AFM probes have not been exploited to elucidate the relationship between the applied mechanical force and resultant current. In this study, the effect of the size of ZnO nanorods on the efficiency of conversion of the applied mechanical force into current was investigated by simultaneously acquiring the conductive AFM and lateral force microscopy signals. The conversion efficiency was calculated based on linear regression analysis of the scatter plot of the data. This method is suitable for determining the conversion efficiencies of all types of freestanding piezoelectric nanomaterials grown under different conditions. A pixel-wise comparison of the current and lateral force images elucidated the mechanism of current generation from dense arrays of ZnO nanorods. The current signals generated from the ZnO nanorods by the AFM probe originated from the piezoelectric and triboelectric effects. The current signals contributed by the triboelectric effect were alleviated by using an AFM probe with a smaller spring constant and reducing the normal force.

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