A distortion-free single-chip atomic force microscope with 2DOF isothermal scanning

A distortion free single-chip scanning probe microscope (sc-SPM) has been developed. The reported design integrates the 3 DOF scanner, sensors, and tip that are required for nanometer-scale measurements onto a single chip. This low-cost instrument has achieved imaging resolution comparable to conventional tools without the image distortion that was present in prior single-chip SPMs, arising from thermal coupling between electrothermal actuators. A single chip atomic force microscope is used with a novel 2D isothermal scanning algorithm to obtain a 5 μm × 3 μm rectangular topographical map, free from image distortion.