Direct Measurement of Lateral Force Using Dual Cantilevers.docVIP

Sensors 2012, 12, 3200-3203; doi:10.3390/s120303200 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Communication Direct Measurement of Lateral Force Using Dual Cantilevers Makoto Ishikawa *, Masaya Ichikawa and Kouji Miura Department of Physics, Aichi University of Education, Hirosawa 1, Igaya-cho, Kariya 448-8542, Japan; E-Mails: s2080879@auecc.aichi-edu.ac.jp (M.I.); kmiura@auecc.aichi-edu.ac.jp (K.M.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: makoishi@auecc.aichi-edu.ac.jp. Received: 27 January 2012; in revised form: 29 February 2012 / Accepted: 2 March 2012 / Published: 7 March 2012 Abstract: We have constructed an experimental system to measure a piconewton lateral force using dual cantilevers which cross with each other. The resolution of the lateral force is estimated to be 3.3 p ± 0.2 pN, which is comparable to forces due to thermal fluctuation. This experimental apparatus works so easily that it will enable us to determine forces during nano-manipulation and nano-tribological measurements. Keywords: lateral force; dual cantilevers; piconewton 1. Introduction Measurements of lateral force using scanning probe microscopy have been of great importance in nanoscience and nanotribology [1], because it is necessary to know force needed to move small objects on a surface and to obtain friction force on an atomic scale [2]. However, it is difficult to obtain a correct lateral force by using the conventional lateral force microscope (LFM) because it generally uses the torsion of a micro-cantilever to measure lateral force [3–6]. Here, we propose a novel method to obtain a lateral force by using dual cantilevers which cross with each other. 2. Experimental Section The overview of experimental setup is depicted in Figure 1(a). This novel setup consists of a 3D-PZT driven actuator (Unisoku Co. Ltd., Japan) and a self-detecting cantilever (NPX1CTP003, SII) as a force sensor on the co