A single-chip scanning probe microscope array

This paper reports the first single-chip atomic force microscope (sc-AFM) array that simultaneously acquires multiple images of a sample. The design, fabrication in a CMOS-MEMS process, and characterization of a 4×1 array is presented in this paper. Four AFM cantilevers share an electrothermal (ET) lateral stage while each AFM cantilever is independently driven, sensed, and controlled. The reported instrument has been used to obtain simultaneous 10μm × 10μm images without the use of external scanners or position sensing hardware. This sc-AFM array spawns a new class of metrology instrumentation with the potential for unprecedented imaging throughput: parallel scanning probe microscopy (pSPM).