The purpose of our study is to determine the Young's modulus of silicon nitride ( Si3N4) thin films. With respect to the experimental material, we use commercially available atomic force microscopy (AFM) microcantilevers. The novelty lies in the procedure used to compare and therefore to validate the experimental results. First, the fundamental mode of Si3N4 thin film microcantilevers is detected by means of the optical beam deflection (OBD) method. The resulting resonant frequency is subsequently introduced into the mechanical theoretical model to extract the value of the Young's modulus. A numerical modal analysis is performed to validate the experimental results using the same approach as that of the experiment. Finally, the Young's modulus obtained in this study is compared with those of other studies. The outcome shows that we have obtained a reliable protocol for Young's modulus estimation.

Higher flexural modes of a Si cantilever are used in order to increase the operating frequencies in non-contact mode scanning force microscopy. By recording frequency responses at different tip-sample distances and by using different flexural modes, long-range tip-sample interactions are studied. The experimental results reveal that operating at higher resonant modes makes it possible to improve sensitivity to force gradients and to avoid overlap between hydrodynamic interactions and attractive interactions in the range of 100-nm tip-sample distances. Using the second-harmonic, a sevenfold-enhanced sensitivity is demonstrated. Finally, discussion on the appropriate technique related to force gradient measurement, i.e. slope detection or frequency modulation technique, is reported.During the last decade, atomic force microscopy (AFM) [1] has atttacted a great interest in a wide field of applications including biological living cells [2]. For this kind of application, dynamic mode is the most used operating mode and avoids damage to such samples. There are numerous advantages in developing an AFM operating at high frequencies.Mainly, it allows fast scanning and reduces the thermal noise, and therefore the ultimate sensitivity to force gradients. Imaging systems with true atomic resolution as well as high-speed data storage are the main driving forces in this field. In order to obtain very high operating frequencies, fabrication of nanometric-scale cantilevers of small mass has been already reported [3,4]. Due to the small size of the cantilever (typically sub-micron size), it requires more complicated detection systems. However, another alternative is to use conventional micromachined AFM cantilevers vibrating at higher flexural modes. Several groups are investigating this possibility. Rabe et al.[5] published a detailed analysis of cantilever vibration mechanisms, detecting more than 10 modes using silicon cantilevers. Recently, tapping mode images were performed by * Permanent address:Minne et al.[6] using higher flexural modes. The piezoresistive cantilever that was used was driven at 132 kHz, which corresponded to the second flexural mode of the clamped-free beam.A quantitative analysis of sensitivity enhancement using higher modes has not yet been achieved. In this paper, we will demonstrate the ability of higher modes to enhance sensitivity to force gradients. For our experiments, we used a home-made force microscope with an original detection technique based on a two degrees of freedom optical detection system: interferometry and optical beam deflection [7], and a silicon cantilever driven at higher modes from the first to the fourth flexural mode (up to 6 MHz). By recording the quasi-instantaneous frequency response at different tipsample distances, the two main long-range interactions were distinguished, i.e. air damping and attractive forces. The results reveal that higher order flexural modes allow us to avoid overlap between these two interactions.For measurement of force gradients, two techniques have ...

In dynamic mode control of scanning force microscopy (SFM), optical beam deflection and interferometry are the techniques most used for detection of force gradients by means of a tip and a microcantilever that usually vibrates at the first resonant mode. In order to increase the sensitivity of these kinds of microscopes, one possible means is to investigate the potential of the highest resonance modes which allow an increase in the operating frequencies. For these two detection techniques, according to the local displacement slope, care must be taken in the choice of an appropriate microcantilever point where the laser beam is focused. In this article, an original technique based on simultaneous detection, interferometry, and the beam deflection method is introduced. These techniques are able to characterize within two degrees of freedom, normal displacement and angular deflection, thus resonating the SFM cantilever.