Probe-rotating atomic force microscopy for determining material properties

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a probe-rotating atomic force microscope that enables scan in an arbitrary direction in the contact imaging mode, which is difficult to achieve using a conventional atomic force microscope owing to the orientation-dependent probe and the inability to rotate the probe head. To enable rotation of the probe about its vertical axis, we employed a compact and light probe head, the sensor of which is made of an optical disk drive pickup unit. Our proposed mechanical configuration, operating principle, and control system enables axial and lateral scan in various directions.