Improving the lateral resolution of quartz tuning fork-based sensors in liquid by integrating commercial AFM tips into the fiber end

Sensors (Basel). 2015 Jan 14;15(1):1601-10. doi: 10.3390/s150101601.

Abstract

The use of quartz tuning fork sensors as probes for scanning probe microscopy is growing in popularity. Working in shear mode, some methods achieve a lateral resolution comparable with that obtained with standard cantilevered probes, but only in experiments conducted in air or vacuum. Here, we report a method to produce and use commercial AFM tips in electrically driven quartz tuning fork sensors operating in shear mode in a liquid environment. The process is based on attaching a standard AFM tip to the end of a fiber probe which has previously been sharpened. Only the end of the probe is immersed in the buffer solution during imaging. The lateral resolution achieved is about 6 times higher than that of the etched microfiber on its own.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Calibration
  • Escherichia coli / ultrastructure
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional
  • Microscopy, Scanning Probe / instrumentation*
  • Optical Fibers*
  • Quartz / chemistry*
  • Silicon / chemistry

Substances

  • Quartz
  • Silicon