Calibration of the oscillation amplitude of quartz tuning fork-based force sensors with astigmatic displacement microscopy

Bi-Qin Zhang; Fei-Cen Ma; Jia-Nan Xu; Dou-Dou Ren; Dan Zhou; Ting Pan; Lei Zhou; Qiaosheng Pu; Zhi-Cong Zeng

doi:10.1063/5.0183470

Calibration of the oscillation amplitude of quartz tuning fork-based force sensors with astigmatic displacement microscopy

Rev Sci Instrum. 2024 Jan 1;95(1):015007. doi: 10.1063/5.0183470.

Authors

Bi-Qin Zhang¹, Fei-Cen Ma¹, Jia-Nan Xu¹, Dou-Dou Ren¹, Dan Zhou¹, Ting Pan¹, Lei Zhou¹, Qiaosheng Pu¹, Zhi-Cong Zeng¹

Affiliation

¹ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 38284812
DOI: 10.1063/5.0183470

Abstract

Quartz tuning forks and qPlus-based force sensors offer an alternative approach to silicon cantilevers for investigating tip-sample interactions in scanning probe microscopy. The high-quality factor (Q) and stiffness of these sensors prevent the tip from jumping to the contact, even at sub-nanometer amplitude. The qPlus configuration enables simultaneous scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy, achieving spatial resolution and spectroscopy at the subatomic level. However, to enable precise measurement of tip-sample interaction forces, confidence in these measurements is contingent upon the accurate calibration of the spring constant and oscillation amplitude of the sensor. Here, we have developed a method called astigmatic displacement microscopy with picometer sensitivity.