MEMS piezoresistive ring resonator for AFM imaging with pico-Newton force resolution

Abstract

A new concept of atomic force microscope (AFM) oscillating probes using electrostatic excitation and piezoresistive detection is presented. The probe is characterized by electrical methods in vacuum and by mechanical methods in air. A frequency-mixing measurement technique is developed to reduce the parasitic signal floor. The probe resonance frequencies are in the 1 MHz range and the quality factor is measured about 53 000 in vacuum and 3000 in air. The ring probe is mounted onto a commercial AFM set-up and topographic images of patterned sample surfaces are obtained. The force resolution deduced from the measurements is about 10 pN Hz−0.5.

Near-field microscopy: Is there an alternative to micro and nano resonating cantilevers?

“…Ring-shaped probe with electrostatic driving and piezoresistive sensing [5]. As for electrostatic driving, the fixed electrodes are located close to the ring with a small air gap of 2µm.…”

Photo-induced strengthening of weak bonding in noble gas dimers

“…Photo-enhancement of attractive forces between particles will be useful for synthesizing new and novel structures. The control of weak interactions in microelectromechanical systems 37 and nanobiological systems 38 will also be advanced by the photo-enhancement effect. Moreover, applying an optical field with spatially constant intensity to particles manipulated by light or plasmon with a spatial intensity gradient 10,11 would make the particles condensed by enhanced interparticle attractive interaction.…”

Microelectromechanical force and tactile sensors for minimally invasive surgery

“…The resonator is driven using capacitive to piezoresistive transduction to enhance the motional signal. In the previous work, silicon BAW resonators of different geometric structures have been intensively studied, such as disk [22][23][24], ring [25,26] and square [27,28] Finally the material elasticity measurement capability of the resonant tactile sensor is demonstrated using a 2.2 MHz BAW resonator.…”

“…Unlike the conventional piezoelectric vibrating tactile sensors that generally consist of two piezoelectric elements as transducer and vibration pick up, the actuation and sensation of the bulk-mode resonator can be integrated together, which allows further miniaturization and possible MIS tool integration. In the previous work, silicon BAW resonators of different geometric structures have been intensively studied, such as disk [22][23][24], ring [25,26] and square [27,28] shape resonators. They show to have high resonance frequencies, have quality factors larger than 10000 in air and have the possibility to be scaled up into arrays.…”

“…Since then, a number of piezoelectric tactile sensors based on the resonant sensing technique have been developed and evaluated [108, 114-116, 118, 119]. For example, a piezoelectric bimorph tactile sensor was reported by Hemsel et al [120] as shown in [22][23][24], ring [25,26] or square [27,28] The sensor is required to be highly miniaturized (dimension less than 360 µm) to be fit into the distal tip of a standard guidewire, the sensor should be able to detect three axis Since the force sensors are fabricated from silicon, it is mechanically fragile. To prevent the sensor from breaking off, an integration scheme can be designed to avoid the force overloading.…”