Combining Electrothermal Actuation with Piezoelectric Actuation and Sensing in a Dynamic Mode AFM Microcantilever

The embedded Z-axis positioner of an atomic force microscope (AFM) impedes parallel imaging with active micro-cantilevers in an array configuration. In this paper, we present a novel microelectromechanical system (MEMS) cantilever with an on-chip electrothermal actuator replacing the vertical positioner in AFM. The MEMS cantilever is equipped with an integrated piezoelectric sensor-actuator pair suitable for dynamic mode atomic force microscopy. We demonstrate tapping-mode imaging with this MEMS cantilever with the electrothermal actuator functioning as the Z-positioner in the feedback control loop. The acquired images reveal the potential of this approach to enable simultaneous AFM operation of microcantilevers in an array.