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Xia F, Youcef-Toumi K. Review: Advanced Atomic Force Microscopy Modes for Biomedical Research. Biosensors (Basel) 2022; 12:1116. [PMID: 36551083 PMCID: PMC9775674 DOI: 10.3390/bios12121116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Revised: 11/20/2022] [Accepted: 11/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Visualization of biomedical samples in their native environments at the microscopic scale is crucial for studying fundamental principles and discovering biomedical systems with complex interaction. The study of dynamic biological processes requires a microscope system with multiple modalities, high spatial/temporal resolution, large imaging ranges, versatile imaging environments and ideally in-situ manipulation capabilities. Recent development of new Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) capabilities has made it such a powerful tool for biological and biomedical research. This review introduces novel AFM functionalities including high-speed imaging for dynamic process visualization, mechanobiology with force spectroscopy, molecular species characterization, and AFM nano-manipulation. These capabilities enable many new possibilities for novel scientific research and allow scientists to observe and explore processes at the nanoscale like never before. Selected application examples from recent studies are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of these AFM techniques.
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Dey S, Kartik V. Large-area high-speed scanning probe microscopy using legacy scanners. Rev Sci Instrum 2019; 90:063706. [PMID: 31255012 DOI: 10.1063/1.5092704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2019] [Accepted: 05/30/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
In scanning probe microscopy, the scanner dynamically positions the sample relative to the probe, and the upper limit of the imaging speed is governed primarily by the first eigenfrequency of the scanner. The mechanical oscillations of the scanner-even when it operates far from resonance-give rise to image artifacts and negatively affect the image resolution. This paper analytically and experimentally investigates the scanner's dynamics at high scan rates upon scanning over a large area. At slow scan speeds, the frequency spectra of the microcantilever's deflection signal exhibit only the excitation frequency and its harmonics; in contrast, at high scan speeds, the spectra exhibit sidebands centered around the excitation harmonics and separated from them by the scanner's eigenfrequency. Exploiting this phenomenon, a scanner dynamics-based method is proposed to reconstruct the surface topography, and, thereby, to reduce the oscillation-induced image artifacts. The method is proven for a variety of sample surfaces at very high scan rates up to 59.2 Hz (corresponding to a linear speed of 4.74 mm/s) upon scanning over a 40 μm × 40 μm area and is successfully demonstrated to be able to virtually eliminate any image artifacts. A nearly ten-fold increase in the scan rate is demonstrated using even a legacy scanner, with no changes required to the hardware.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Dey
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
| | - V Kartik
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
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Abstract
Conventional multibody systems used in robotics and automated machinery contain bearing components that exhibit complex and uncertain tribological characteristics. These limit fundamentally the precision of the automated motion and also cause wear. Replacing traditional bearing joints with flexure couplings eliminates these tribological effects, together with wear, reducing necessary system maintenance and offering a potential for increased motion precision. A flexure-coupled multibody system is considered and a novel general solution technique is presented. Derivation of a large deflection flexure coupling model is provided and subsequently validated using an experimental facility. A focused study of a unique double-flexure-coupling rigid body system is given; the formulated nonlinear mathematical model can be used for feedforward control. Equivalent control is also applied to a corresponding system with traditional bearing joints. The feasibility of replacing bearing joints by flexure couplings is demonstrated in terms of accurate large displacement control and reduction of high-frequency disturbances.
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Zhang Y, Li Y, Shan G, Chen Y, Wang Z, Qian J. Real-time scan speed control of the atomic force microscopy for reducing imaging time based on sample topography. Micron 2017; 106:1-6. [PMID: 29278760 DOI: 10.1016/j.micron.2017.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2017] [Revised: 12/13/2017] [Accepted: 12/13/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Here, a novel method, real-time scan speed control for raster scan amplitude modulation atomic force microscopes (AM-AFMs), is proposed. In general, the imaging rate is set to a fixed value before the experiment, which is determined by the feedback control calculations on each imaging point. Many efforts have been made to increase the AFM imaging rate, including using the cantilever with high eigenfrequency, employing new scan methods, and optimizing other mechanical components. The proposed real-time control method adjusts the scan speed linearly according to the error of every imaging point, which is mainly determined by the sample topography. Through setting residence time on each imaging point reasonably, the performance of AM-AFMs can be fully exploited while the scanner vibration is avoided when scan speed changes. Experiments and simulations are performed to demonstrate this control algorithm. This method would increase the imaging rate for samples with strongly fluctuant topography up to about 3 times without sacrificing any image quality, especially in large-scale and high-resolution imaging, in the meanwhile, it reduces the professional requirements for AM-AFM operators. Since the control strategy employs a linear algorithm to calculate the scanning speed based on the error signal, the proposed method avoids the frequent switching of the scanning speed between the high speed and the low speed. And it is easier to implement because there is no need to modify the original hardware of the AFM for its application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingxu Zhang
- School of Instrumentation Science and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China; Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Measurement-Manipulation and Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yingzi Li
- School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China; Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Measurement-Manipulation and Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
| | - Guanqiao Shan
- School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China; Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Measurement-Manipulation and Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yifu Chen
- School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China; Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Measurement-Manipulation and Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Zhenyu Wang
- School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China; Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Measurement-Manipulation and Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Jianqiang Qian
- School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China; Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Measurement-Manipulation and Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
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Sadeghian H, Herfst R, Dekker B, Winters J, Bijnagte T, Rijnbeek R. High-throughput atomic force microscopes operating in parallel. Rev Sci Instrum 2017; 88:033703. [PMID: 28372370 DOI: 10.1063/1.4978285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an essential nanoinstrument technique for several applications such as cell biology and nanoelectronics metrology and inspection. The need for statistically significant sample sizes means that data collection can be an extremely lengthy process in AFM. The use of a single AFM instrument is known for its very low speed and not being suitable for scanning large areas, resulting in a very-low-throughput measurement. We address this challenge by parallelizing AFM instruments. The parallelization is achieved by miniaturizing the AFM instrument and operating many of them simultaneously. This instrument has the advantages that each miniaturized AFM can be operated independently and that the advances in the field of AFM, both in terms of speed and imaging modalities, can be implemented more easily. Moreover, a parallel AFM instrument also allows one to measure several physical parameters simultaneously; while one instrument measures nano-scale topography, another instrument can measure mechanical, electrical, or thermal properties, making it a lab-on-an-instrument. In this paper, a proof of principle of such a parallel AFM instrument has been demonstrated by analyzing the topography of large samples such as semiconductor wafers. This nanoinstrument provides new research opportunities in the nanometrology of wafers and nanolithography masks by enabling real die-to-die and wafer-level measurements and in cell biology by measuring the nano-scale properties of a large number of cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamed Sadeghian
- Department of Optomechatronics, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Rodolf Herfst
- Department of Optomechatronics, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Bert Dekker
- Department of Optomechatronics, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Jasper Winters
- Department of Optomechatronics, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Tom Bijnagte
- Department of Optomechatronics, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Ramon Rijnbeek
- Department of Optomechatronics, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, Delft, The Netherlands
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