Automatic alignment of optical beam deflection system for AFM cantilevers
conference paper
The optical beam deflection (OBD) technique is used in many Atomic Force Microscopes to measure the motion of a cantilever as it probes the scanned surface. From the measured rotation, surface and sub-surface properties of the sample can be deduced. To maximize the sensitivity of the measurement, the combination of laser and cantilever should be aligned such that the laser impinges on the cantilever as close to its end tip as possible. Table-top AFM systems often use manual alignment. For industrial applications automatic alignment is necessary. This paper describes a method to automate this alignment procedure, using a laser induced thermo-mechanical response to actively bend the cantilever. This method also has applications in the characterization of bi-material cantilevers in a non-contact and non-destructive manner. The details of this characterization and the mathematical derivation are published elsewhere.
TNO Identifier
472278
Source title
Proceedings of 2013 Nanomechanical Sensing Workshop, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Place of publication
Delft
Files
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