title: Improving the lateral resolution of quartz tuning fork-based sensors in liquid by integrating commercial AFM tips into the fiber end.
abstract: The use of quartz tuning fork sensors as probes for scanning probe microscopy is growing in popularity. Working in shear mode, some methods achieve a lateral resolution comparable with that obtained with standard cantilevered probes, but only in experiments conducted in air or vacuum. Here, we report a method to produce and use commercial AFM tips in electrically driven quartz tuning fork sensors operating in shear mode in a liquid environment. The process is based on attaching a standard AFM tip to the end of a fiber probe which has previously been sharpened. Only the end of the probe is immersed in the buffer solution during imaging. The lateral resolution achieved is about 6 times higher than that of the etched microfiber on its own.
authors.affiliation: SIC-BIO, Bioelectronics and Nanobioengineering Group, Departament d'Electrònica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franques 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. laura.gonzalez.claramonte@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, C-3, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain. davidmmo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Martínez-Martín
authors.affiliation: SIC-BIO, Bioelectronics and Nanobioengineering Group, Departament d'Electrònica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franques 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. jordi.otero@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Otero
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, C-3, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain. p.j.depablo@uam.es.
authors.forename: Pedro José
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: de Pablo
authors.affiliation: SIC-BIO, Bioelectronics and Nanobioengineering Group, Departament d'Electrònica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franques 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. manel.puig@ub.edu.
authors.forename: Manel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Puig-Vidal
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, C-3, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain. julio.gomez@uam.es.
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gómez-Herrero
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000648:ultrastructure; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D020527:Microscopy, Scanning Probe / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055100:Optical Fibers; D011791:Quartz / Q000737:chemistry*; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011791:Quartz; D012825:Silicon