title: Deep atomic force microscopy.
abstract: The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) possesses several desirable imaging features including the ability to produce height profiles as well as two-dimensional images, in fluid or air, at high resolution. AFM has been used to study a vast selection of samples on the scale of angstroms to micrometers. However, current AFMs cannot access samples with vertical topography of the order of 100 μm or greater. Research efforts have produced AFM scanners capable of vertical motion greater than 100 μm, but commercially available probe tip lengths are still typically less than 10 μm high. Even the longest probe tips are below 100 μm and even at this range are problematic. In this paper, we present a method to hand-fabricate "Deep AFM" probes with tips of the order of 100 μm and longer so that AFM can be used to image samples with large scale vertical topography, such as fractured bone samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Barnard
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Drake
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Randall
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Hansma
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001842:Bone and Bones; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000295:instrumentation*