Dynamic Force Characterization Microscopy Based on Integrated Nanorobotic AFM and SEM System for Detachment Process Study

In this paper, an integrated system, named dynamic force characterization microscopy (DFCM), is proposed to investigate the detachment process at small scale. This system is constructed by integrating a modified atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever, a laser displacement sensor and a nanorobotic manipulation system with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The micropolystyrene bead and biological cell are taken as the samples, which are put on the substrate surface inside SEM chamber first. Then, the modified AFM cantilever is used to detach the sample under the driving of the nanorobotic manipulator. In this process, the detachment force is measured by the laser displacement sensor dynamically. All the while, the shape changing of the sample is observed by SEM at nanometer resolution. The experimental results verify that DFCM integrates the accurate force measurement ability of AFM, the real-time high-resolution imaging ability of SEM and the flexible manipulation ability of robot. It provides a novel approach for the dynamic force characterization at small scale, which will greatly benefit the in-depth understating of the dynamic detachment process and the characterization of material's mechanical property.