Surface microscopy with laserless MEMS based AFM probes

Emmanuelle Algre (1) , Bernard Legrand (1) , Marc Faucher (1) , Benjamin Walter (1, 2) , Lionel Buchaillot (1)

1 IEMN - Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520
2 Vmicro SAS

We report here on results of AFM microscopy using laserless MEMS based probes. This new concept of atomic force microscope (AFM) probes using bulk-mode silicon resonators was previously presented [1]. They consist on silicon ring resonators with capacitive transducers and integrated sensing nanotip. We have also demonstrated that these probes are sensitive to nanoscale tip-surface interactions [2], paving the way for AFM imaging. We describe here probes fabrication and their implementation on a Veeco commercial AFM microscope. Force curve measurements are realized in order to set the experimental conditions for AFM operation. For the first time, AFM microscopy images using these laserless MEMS based AFM probes are presented

Mots clés: Surface emitting lasers; Atomic force microscopy; Micromechanical devices; Probes; Ring lasers; Silicon; Force measurement; Atomic beams; Optical ring resonators; Transducers

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Emmanuelle Algre, Bernard Legrand, Marc Faucher, Benjamin Walter, Lionel Buchaillot. Surface microscopy with laserless MEMS based AFM probes. 23rd IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, MEMS 2010, Jan 2010, Hong Kong, China. pp.292-295, ⟨10.1109/MEMSYS.2010.5442509⟩. ⟨hal-00549972⟩