800× Non-Distortion Magnified Visualization of Deep Sub-Nanometer MEMS Vibrations Using a Camera

Dynamic visualization of the small motions in Micro-Electro-Mechanical systems (MEMS) in the presence of external disturbances and noise is facing great challenges. The measurement of MEMS in-plane motion has particularly faced limitations due to imaging resolution constraints in the nanometer range. This paper presents a novel imaging approach by introducing a deep sub-nanometer motion detection and magnification technique based on gradient-based spectral optical flow method together with stroboscopic video microscopy, achieving a root mean square (RMS) noise floor of 0.087 nm. The experimental results demonstrate the capability to recover and magnify in-plane motions as small as 0.27 nm, with an 890 × magnification and minimal distortion. This shows outstanding performance in imaging deep sub-nanometer motions, surpassing the capabilities of currently popular commercial tools by more than an order of magnitude.