Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been widely used for measuring mechanical properties of biological specimens such as cells, DNA, and proteins. This is usually done by monitoring deformations in response to controlled applied forces, which have to be at ultralow levels due to the extreme softness of the specimens. Consequently, such experiments may be susceptible to thermal excitations, manifested as force and displacement fluctuations that could reduce the measurement accuracy. To take advantage of, rather than to be limited by, such fluctuations, we have characterized the thermomechanical responses of an arbitrarily shaped AFM cantilever with the tip coupled to an elastic spring. Our analysis shows that the cantilever and the specimen behave as springs in parallel. This provides a method for determining the elasticity of the specimen by measuring the change in the tip fluctuations in the presence and absence of coupling. For rectangular and V-shaped cantilevers, we have derived a relationship between the mean-square deflection and the mean-square inclination and an approximate expression for the specimen spring constant in terms of contributions to the mean-square inclination from the first few vibration modes.
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e-mail: cheng.zhu@me.gatech.edu
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December 2005
Technical Papers
Thermo-Mechanical Responses of a Surface-Coupled AFM Cantilever
Jianhua Wu,
Jianhua Wu
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332
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Ying Fang,
Ying Fang
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332
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Dong Yang,
Dong Yang
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332
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Cheng Zhu
Cheng Zhu
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering,
e-mail: cheng.zhu@me.gatech.edu
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332
Search for other works by this author on:
Jianhua Wu
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332
Ying Fang
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332
Dong Yang
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332
Cheng Zhu
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332e-mail: cheng.zhu@me.gatech.edu
J Biomech Eng. Dec 2005, 127(7): 1208-1215 (8 pages)
Published Online: August 15, 2005
Article history
Received:
February 8, 2005
Revised:
August 5, 2005
Accepted:
August 15, 2005
Citation
Wu, J., Fang, Y., Yang, D., and Zhu, C. (August 15, 2005). "Thermo-Mechanical Responses of a Surface-Coupled AFM Cantilever." ASME. J Biomech Eng. December 2005; 127(7): 1208–1215. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2073647
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