Self-Actuated Polymer-Based Cantilevers with Sharp Silicon Tips for High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy

High-speed atomic force microscopy has thus far largely been limited to the use of small cantilevers in liquid, but the technique would greatly profit areas of nanotechnology that require the use of larger probes in air. We present polymer-based cantilevers with a low Q factor, an integrated electrothermal actuator and a sharp silicon tip. The devices can be used directly on commercial AFM setups utilizing a custom cantilever holder. They are suitable for high-speed tapping mode thanks to the high intrinsic damping of their polymer core. The integrated actuator allows for large amplitudes for off-resonance imaging, as well as for clean actuation tunes for tapping-mode imaging.