Affiliation:
1. State Key Laboratory of Tribology in Advanced Equipment, Department of Mechanical Engineering Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 China
2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Precision/Ultra‐precision Manufacturing Equipments and Control Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 China
3. School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation Beihang University 37 Xueyuan Road Beijing 100191 China
4. NT‐MDT Spectrum Instruments China office Beijing 100053 China
Abstract
AbstractThe atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an important tool capable of characterization, measurement, and manipulation at the nanoscale with a vertical resolution of less than 0.1 nm. However, the conventional AFMs' scanning range is around 100 µm, which limits their capability for processing cross‐scale samples. In this study, it proposes a novel approach to overcome this limitation with an ultra‐large scale stitchless AFM (ULSS‐AFM) that allows for the high‐throughput characterization of an area of up to 1 × 1 mm2 through a synergistic integration with a compliant nano‐manipulator (CNM). Specifically, the compact CNM provides planar motion with nanoscale precision and millimeter range for the sample, while the probe of the ULSS‐AFM interacts with the sample. Experimental results show that the proposed ULSS‐AFM performs effectively in different scanning ranges under various scanning modes, resolutions, and frequencies. Compared with the conventional AFMs, the approach enables high‐throughput characterization of ultra‐large scale samples without stitching or bow errors, expanding the scanning area of conventional AFMs by two orders of magnitude. This advancement opens up important avenues for cross‐scale scientific research and industrial applications in nano‐ and microscale.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Biomaterials,Biotechnology,General Materials Science,General Chemistry