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Battery-Operated Atomic Force Microscope, Burford J. Furman, J. Christman, M. Kearny, F. Wojcik, M. Tortonese

Burford J. Furman

The design of a battery-operated atomic force microscope (AFM) using a piezoresistive cantilever is described. The AFM is designed so that all power to drive the scanning tube and detection electronics comes from a self-contained battery. The prototype AFM uses a 6 V, Ni–Cd, camcorder battery, however, any battery that supplies between 6 and 12 V may be used. Scanner control and data acquisition are implemented using commercially available software running on an external computer. The prototype AFM achieves a scan area of 53 by 53 μm, consumes 1.8 W of power, and can scan continuously for about 7 h …