Active Probe Atomic Force Microscopy: A Practical Guide on Precision Instrumentation

From a perspective of precision instrumentation, this book provides a guided tour to readers on exploring the inner workings of atomic force microscopy (AFM). Centered around AFM, a broad range of mechatronic system topics are covered including mechanics, sensors, actuators, transmission design, system identification, signal processing, dynamic system modeling, controller. With a solid theoretical foundation, practical examples are provided for AFM subsystem level design on nano-positioning system, cantilever probe, control system and system integration. This book emphasizes novel development of active cantilever probes with embedded transducers, which enables new AFM capabilities for advanced applications. Full design details of a low-cost educational AFM and a Scale Model Interactive Learning Extended Reality (SMILER) toolkit are provided, which helps instructors to make use of this book for curriculum development. This book aims to empower AFM users with deeper understanding of theinstrument to extend AFM functionalities for advanced state-of-the-art research studies. Going beyond AFM, materials presented in this book are widely applicable to precision mechatronic system design covered in many upper-level graduate courses in mechanical and electrical engineering to cultivate next generation instrumentalists.

Fangzhou Xia is a Research Scientist, jointly appointed in the of Mechanical Engineering Department and Physics Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA, in 2020. His research interests include precision mechatronics, physical/computational intelligence, controls, nano-robotics, and instrumentation with applications in scanning probe microscopy, biomedical devices, and industrial automation. 

Dr. Ivo W. Rangelow is a University Professor in the Production and Precision Metrology Department at Ilmenau University of Technology. He received his Ph.D. with “summa cum laude” from Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland, in 1982. His research interests include nanofabrication, semiconductor devices, vacuum microelectronics, embedded systems, transducer technology, and scanning probe sciences. 

Dr. Kamal Youcef-Toumiis a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his Sc.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA, in 1985. His research interests include modeling, design, instrumentation, control theory and their applications to dynamic systems.