Development of high-speed ion conductance microscopy

Shinji Watanabe; Satoko Kitazawa; Linhao Sun; Noriyuki Kodera; Toshio Ando

doi:10.1063/1.5118360

Development of high-speed ion conductance microscopy

Rev Sci Instrum. 2019 Dec 1;90(12):123704. doi: 10.1063/1.5118360.

Authors

Shinji Watanabe¹, Satoko Kitazawa², Linhao Sun¹, Noriyuki Kodera¹, Toshio Ando¹

Affiliations

¹ WPI Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan.
² Department of Physics, Institute of Science and Engineering, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan.

PMID: 31893861
DOI: 10.1063/1.5118360

Abstract

Scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) can image the surface topography of specimens in ionic solutions without mechanical probe-sample contact. This unique capability is advantageous for imaging fragile biological samples but its highest possible imaging rate is far lower than the level desired in biological studies. Here, we present the development of high-speed SICM. The fast imaging capability is attained by a fast Z-scanner with active vibration control and pipette probes with enhanced ion conductance. By the former, the delay of probe Z-positioning is minimized to sub-10 µs, while its maximum stroke is secured at 6 μm. The enhanced ion conductance lowers a noise floor in ion current detection, increasing the detection bandwidth up to 100 kHz. Thus, temporal resolution 100-fold higher than that of conventional systems is achieved, together with spatial resolution around 20 nm.