PARALLEL ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY USING CANTILEVERS WITH INTEGRATED PIEZORESISTIVE SENSORS AND INTEGRATED PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATORS

We have fabricated and operated two cantilevers in parallel in a new m ode for imaging with the atomic force microscope (AFM). The cantilever s contain both an integrated piezoresistive silicon sensor and an inte grated piezoelectric zinc oxide (ZnO) actuator. The integration of sen sor and actuator on a single cantilever allows us to simultaneously re cord two independent AFM images in the constant force mode. The ZnO ac tuator provides over 4 mu m of deflection at low frequencies (de) and over 30 mu m deflection at the first resonant frequency. The piezoresi stive element is used to detect the strain and provide the feedback si gnal for the ZnO actuator. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.