A PIEZOTUBE SCANNER FOR ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY IN SOLUTION

A novel piezotube scanner used in the atomic force microscope (AFM) is described. Unlike other designs where the electrodes on the outside a re subjected to high voltage, in our design all electrodes are placed on the inside of the tube scanner, and the outside electrode is simply grounded. With this design and a proper choice of piezomaterials, the scan range of a 1.75 in. tube can be as large as 15 mu m when used wi th NanoScope III, and is not vulnerable to leaking solutions, which of ten cause severe damage to both the piezotube and the high-voltage dri ver with the other designs. Therefore, this new design will be valuabl e for biological AFM where imaging in solution is often required, and is simple enough to be fitted to an existing AFM. (C) 1996 American In stitute of Physics.