Single-chip atomic force microscope with integrated Q-enhancement and isothermal scanning

Sarkar, Niladri; Mansour, Raafat R.

doi:10.1109/memsys.2014.6765759

Cited by 7 publications

References 18 publications

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Single‐Chip Scanning Probe Microscopes

Sarkar

Mansour²

2015

Micro‐ and Nanomanipulation Tools

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Scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) are the highest resolution imaging instruments available today and are among the most important tools in nanoscience. Conventional SPMs suffer from several drawbacks owing to their large and bulky construction and to the use of piezoelectric materials. Large scanners have low resonant frequencies that limit their achievable imaging bandwidth and render them susceptible to disturbance from ambient vibrations. Array approaches have been used to alleviate the bandwidth bottleneck; however as arrays are scaled upwards, the scanning speed must decline to accommodate larger payloads. In addition, the long mechanical path from the tip to the sample contributes thermal drift. Furthermore, intrinsic properties of piezoelectric materials result in creep and hysteresis, which contribute to image distortion. The tip-sample interaction signals are often measured with optical configurations that require large free-space paths, are cumbersome to align, and add to the high cost of state-of-the-art SPM systems. These shortcomings have stifled the widespread adoption of SPMs by the nanometrology community. Tiny, inexpensive, fast, stable and independent SPMs that do not incur bandwidth penalties upon array scaling would therefore be most welcome. A method to increase the quality factor (Q-factor) of flexural resonators is introduced. The method relies on an internal energy pumping mechanism that is based on the interplay between electrical, iv mechanical, and thermal effects. To the best of the author's knowledge, the devices that are designed to harness these effects possess the highest electromechanical Qs reported for flexural resonators operating in air; electrically measured Q is enhanced from ~50 to ~50,000 in one exemplary device. A physical explanation for the underlying mechanism is proposed.The design, fabrication, imaging, and tip-based lithographic patterning with the first single-chip Scanning Thermal Microscopes (SThMs) are also presented. In addition to 3 DOF scanning, these devices possess integrated, thermally isolated temperature sensors to detect heat transfer in the tip-sample region.Imaging is reported with thermocouple-based devices and patterning is reported with resistive heater/sensors. An "isothermal electrothermal scanner" is designed and fabricated, and a method to operate it is detailed. The mechanism, based on electrothermal actuation, maintains a constant temperature in a central location while positioning a payload over a range of >35μm, thereby suppressing the deleterious thermal crosstalk effects that have thus far plagued thermally actuated devices with integrated sensors.

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Single‐Chip Scanning Probe Microscopes

Sarkar

Mansour²

2015

Micro‐ and Nanomanipulation Tools

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In-line metrology of nanoscale features in semiconductor manufacturing systems

Yao

Duenner

Cullinan

2017

Precision Engineering

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Effective quality factor tuning mechanisms in micromechanical resonators

Miller

Ansari

Heinz

et al. 2018

Applied Physics Reviews

112

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Quality factor (Q) is an important property of micro- and nano-electromechanical (MEM/NEM) resonators that underlie timing references, frequency sources, atomic force microscopes, gyroscopes, and mass sensors. Various methods have been utilized to tune the effective quality factor of MEM/NEM resonators, including external proportional feedback control, optical pumping, mechanical pumping, thermal-piezoresistive pumping, and parametric pumping. This work reviews these mechanisms and compares the effective Q tuning using a position-proportional and a velocity-proportional force expression. We further clarify the relationship between the mechanical Q, the effective Q, and the thermomechanical noise of a resonator. We finally show that parametric pumping and thermal-piezoresistive pumping enhance the effective Q of a micromechanical resonator by experimentally studying the thermomechanical noise spectrum of a device subjected to both techniques.

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Single-chip atomic force microscope with integrated Q-enhancement and isothermal scanning

Cited by 7 publications

References 18 publications

Single‐Chip Scanning Probe Microscopes

Single‐Chip Scanning Probe Microscopes

In-line metrology of nanoscale features in semiconductor manufacturing systems

Effective quality factor tuning mechanisms in micromechanical resonators

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