Active Probe Atomic Force Microscopy with Quattro-Parallel Cantilever Arrays for High-Throughput Large-Scale Sample Inspection

Fangzhou Xia; Kamal Youcef-Toumi; Thomas Sattel; Eberhard Manske; Ivo W. Rangelow

doi:10.3791/65210

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Active Probe Atomic Force Microscopy with Quattro-Parallel Cantilever Arrays for High-Throughput Large-Scale Sample Inspection

JoVE Journal
Engineering

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JoVE Journal Engineering

Active Probe Atomic Force Microscopy with Quattro-Parallel Cantilever Arrays for High-Throughput Large-Scale Sample Inspection

1,375 Views

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05:04 min

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June 13, 2023

DOI:

10.3791/65210-v

DOI:

10.3791/65210-v

•

05:04 min

June 13, 2023

•

11 Views

Fangzhou Xia¹, Kamal Youcef-Toumi¹, Thomas Sattel², Eberhard Manske³, Ivo W. Rangelow^4,5

¹Mechatronics Research Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering,Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ²Mechatronics Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering,Ilmenau University of Technology, ³Production and Precision Measurement Technology Group, Institute of Process Measurement and Sensor Technology,Ilmenau University of Technology, ⁴Nanoscale Systems Group, Institute of Process Measurement and Sensor Technology,Ilmenau University of Technology, ⁵nano analytik GmbH

Transcript

Scanning probe microscopy based on novel micro electromechanical system probes are called active cantilevers. Cantilevers with integrated actuation and sensing provide several advantages over passive cantilevers, which rely on piezoelectric excitation and optical beam deflection measurement. The most recent development in this field is the realization of arrays of active cantilevers for high-throughput parallel SPM imaging.

The arrays of active cantilevers use integrated piezoresistive sensors to offer sensitivity comparable to optical readout methods without diffraction limits to allow smaller, softer, and more compact AFM probes. The results of this technique paved the way for the operation and building of high-throughput atomic force microscopes using high-speed multichannel electronics. The advances in this technique can facilitate the faster and more reliable operation of massively parallel active cantilever systems in the future.

Summary

Large-scale sample inspection with nanoscale resolution has a wide range of applications, especially for nanofabricated semiconductor wafers. Atomic force microscopes can be a great tool for this purpose, but are limited by their imaging speed. This work utilizes parallel active cantilever arrays in AFMs to enable high-throughput and large-scale inspections.