TY  - JOUR
AB  - We critically discuss the extraction of intrinsic cantilever properties, namely eigenfrequency f(n), quality factor Q(n) and specifically the stiffness k(n) of the nth cantilever oscillation mode from thermal noise by an analysis of the power spectral density of displacement fluctuations of the cantilever in contact with a thermal bath. The practical applicability of this approach is demonstrated for several cantilevers with eigenfrequencies ranging from 50 kHz to 2 MHz. As such an analysis requires a sophisticated spectral analysis, we introduce a new method to determine kn from a spectral analysis of the demodulated oscillation signal of the excited cantilever that can be performed in the frequency range of 10 Hz to 1 kHz regardless of the eigenfrequency of the cantilever. We demonstrate that the latter method is in particular useful for noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) where the required simple instrumentation for spectral analysis is available in most experimental systems.
DA  - 2013
DO  - 10.3762/bjnano.4.23
KW  - AFM
KW  - cantilever
KW  - noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM)
KW  - Q-factor
KW  - thermal excitation
KW  - resonance
KW  - spectral analysis
KW  - stiffness
LA  - eng
M2  - 227
PY  - 2013
SN  - 2190-4286
SP  - 227-233
T2  - Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology
TI  - Determining cantilever stiffness from thermal noise
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-29138054
Y2  - 2024-11-22T03:02:53
ER  -