• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.96-104
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• 2007

Calibration of the spring constants of atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilevers is one of the issues in biomechanics and nanomechanies for quantified force metrology at pieo- or nano Newton level. In this paper, we present an AFM cantilever calibration system: the Nano Force Calibrator (NFC), which consists of a precision balance and a one-dimensional stage. Three types of AFM cantilevers (contact and tapping mode) with different shapes (beam and V) and spring constants (42, 1, 0.06 N $m^{-1}$) are investigated using the NFC. The calibration results show that the NFC can calibrate the micro cantilevers ranging from 0.01 ${\sim}$ 100 N $m^{-1}$ with relative uncertainties of less than 2%.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.29-36
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• 2004

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.608-614
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• 2004

Isotactic polypropylene (PP) surfaces were modified with argon and oxygen plasmas using a radio­frequency (RF) glow discharge at 240 mTorr and 40 W. The changes in topography and surface structure were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) in conjunction with specular reflectance of infrared (IR) microspectroscopy. Under our operating conditions, the AFM image analysis revealed that longer plasma treatment resulted in significant ablation on the PP surface, regardless of the kind of plasma employed, but the topography was dependent on the nature of the gases. Specular reflectance IR spectroscopic analysis indicated that the constant removal of surface material was an important ablative aspect when using either plasma, but the nature of the ablative behavior and the resultant aging effects were clearly dependent on the choice of plasma. The use of argon plasma resulted in a negligible aging effect; in contrast, the use of oxygen plasma caused a noticeable aging effect, which was due to reactions of trapped or isolated radicals with oxygen in air, and was partly responsible for the increased surface area caused by ablation. The use of oxygen plasma is believed to be an advantageous approach to modifying polymeric materials with functionalized surfaces, e.g., for surface grafting of unsaturated monomers and incorporating oxygen-containing groups onto PP.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.537-543
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• 2002

This paper examines a new in-process measurement system for the measurement of micro-defects on the surfaces of brittle materials by using the AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy). A new AFM scanning stage that can also perform nano-scale bending of the sample was developed by adding a bending unit to a commercially available AFM scanner. The bending unit consists of a PZT actuator and sample holder, and can perform static and cyclic three-point bending. The true bending displacement of the bending unit is approximately 1.8mm when 80 volts are applied to the PZT actuator. The frequency response of the bending unit and the stress on the sample were also analyzed, both theoretically and experimentally. Potential surface defects of the sample were successfully detected by this measurement system. It was confirmed that the number of micro-defects on a scratched surface increases when the surface is subjected to a cyclic bending load.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.213-217
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• 2013

As commercial atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes made of Si and $Si_3N_4$ have low stiffness, it is difficult to induce sufficient elastic deformation on the surface of a specimen in a tapping mode. Therefore, high-guality phase contrast images can not obtained. On the other hand, a tungsten AFM probe has relatively higher stiffness than a commercial AFM probe. Accordingly, it is expected to provide an enhanced phase contrast image, which is an effective tool for achieving a better understanding of the micromechanical properties of worn surfaces and wear mechanisms. In this study, on electrochemical etching method was optimized to fabricate tungsten probe tips for an AFM. Electrochemical etching was performed by applying pulse waves with a 20% duty cycle at various voltages instead of only a DC voltage, which has been commonly used.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.645-646
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• 2006

The oscillation amplitude of a probe tip is an important parameter to determine the resolution of atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. In this work, we introduce a new method for the measurement of the oscillation amplitude of a quartz tuning fork tip sub-nanometer resolution.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.863-870
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• 2017

With the increasing interest in using bacterial biofilms in geo-engineering practices, such as soil improvement, sealing leakage in earth structures, and hydraulic barrier installation, understanding of the contribution of bacterial biofilm formation to mechanical and hydraulic behavior of soils is important. While mechanical properties of soft gel-like biofilms need to be identified for appropriate modeling and prediction of behaviors of biofilm-associated soils, elastic properties of biofilms remain poorly understood. Therefore, this study investigated the microscale Young's modulus of biofilms produced by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 in a liquid phase. The indentation test was performed on a biofilm sample using the atomic force microscopy (AFM) with a spherical indentor, and the force-indentation responses were obtained during approach and retraction traces. Young's modulus of biofilms was estimated to be ~33-38 kPa from these force-indentation curves and Hertzian contact theory. It appears that the AFM indentation result captures the microscale local characteristics of biofilms and its stiffness is relatively large compared to the other methods, including rheometer and hydrodynamic shear tests, which reflect the average macro-scale behaviors. While modeling of mechanical behaviors of biofilm-associated soils requires the properties of each component, the obtained results provide information on the mechanical properties of biofilms that can be considered as cementing, gluing, or filling materials in soils.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.73-75
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• 2013

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) [1] can now not only image individual atoms but also construct atom letters using atom manipulation method [2]. Therefore, the AFM is the second generation atomic tool following the well-known scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The AFM, however, has the advantages that it can image even insulating surfaces with atomic resolution and also measure the atomic force itself between the tip-apex outermost atom and the sample surface atom. Noting these advantages, we have been developing a novel bottom-up nanostructuring system, as shown in Fig. 1, based on the AFM. It can identify chemical species of individual atoms [3] and then manipulate selected atom species to the designed site one-by-one [2] to assemble complex nanostructures consisted of many atom species at room temperature (RT). In this invited talk, we will introduce our results toward atom-by-atom assembly of composite nanomaterials based on the AFM at RT. To identify chemical species, we developed the site-specific force spectroscopy at RT by compensating the thermal drift using the atom tracking. By converting the precise site-specific frequency shift curves, we obtained short-range force curves of selected Sn and Si atoms as shown in Fig. 2(a) and 2(b) [4]. Then using the atom-by-atom force spectroscopy at RT, we succeeded in chemical identification of intermixed three atom species in Pb/Sn/Si(111)-(${\surd}3$'${\surd}3$) surface as shown in Fig. 2(c) [3]. To create composite nanostructures, we found the lateral atom interchange phenomenon at RT, which enables us to exchange embedded heterogeneous atoms [2]. By combining this phenomenon with the modified vector scan, we constructed the atom letters "Sn" consisted of substitutional Sn adatoms embedded in Ge adatoms at RT as shown in Fig. 3(a)~(f) [2]. Besides, we found another kind of atom interchange phenomenon at RT that is the vertical atom interchange phenomenon, which directly interchanges the surface selected Sn atoms with the tip apex Si atoms [5]. This method is an advanced interchangeable single atom pen at RT. Then using this method, we created the atom letters "Si" consisted of substituted Si adatoms embedded in Sn adatoms at RT as shown in Fig. 4(a)~(f) [5]. In addition to the above results, we will introduce the simultaneous evaluation of the force and current at the atomic scale using the combined AFM/STM at RT.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.289-296
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• 2012

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used for imaging surfaces and measuring surface forces at the nano-scale. Force calibration is important for the quantitative measurement of forces at the nano-scale using AFM. Normal force calibration is relatively straightforward, whereas the lateral force calibration is more complicated since the lateral stiffness of the cantilever is often comparable to the contact stiffness. In this work, the lateral force calibrations of the rectangular cantilever were performed using torsional Sader's method, thermal noise method, and wedge calibration method. The lateral optical lever sensitivity for the thermal noise method was determined from the friction loop under various normal forces as well. Experimental results showed that the discrepancies among the results of the different methods were as large as 30% due to the effect of the contact stiffness on the lateral force calibration of the cantilever used in this work. After correction for the effect of contact stiffness, all the calibration results agreed with each other, within experimental uncertainties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.149-150
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• 2006

We describe a novel method of scanning probe nanofabrication using a AFM(atomic force microscopy) tip with assistance of Femtosecond laser pulses to enhance fabrication capability. Illumination of the AFM tip with ultra-short light pulses induces a strong electric field between the tip and the metal surface, which allows removing metal atoms from the surface by means of field evaporation. Quantum simulation reveals that the field evaporation is triggered even en air when the induced electric field reaches the level of a few volts per angstrom, which is low enough to avoid unwanted thermal damages on most metal surfaces. For experimental validation, a Ti: sapphire Femtosecond pulse laser with 10 fs pulse duration at 800 nm center wavelength was used with a tip coated with gold to fabricate nanostructures on a thin film gold surface. Experimental results demonstrate that fine structures with critical dimensions less than ${\sim}10nm$ can be successfully made with precise control of the repetition rate of Femtosecond laser pulses.