Cross-scale high-bandwidth atomic force microscopy with a stick-slip nanopositioner

Xiangyuan Wang, Qi Yu, Yixuan Meng, Jing Wang, Hu Huang and Limin Zhu ()
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Xiangyuan Wang: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering
Qi Yu: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering
Yixuan Meng: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering
Jing Wang: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering
Hu Huang: Jilin University, Key Laboratory of CNC Equipment Reliability, Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Limin Zhu: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract The core of atomic force microscopy (AFM) lies in the ultra-precise scanning between the tip and sample, which is enabled by nanopositioners. State-of-the-art AFMs generate the scanning motion using direct-drive nanopositioners, possessing either long range or high bandwidth, but not both. Here we show that with a triple-phase controller, the high-bandwidth (up to 363 Hz) nano-precision scanning can also be performed with a typical stick-slip nanopositioner. More importantly, by leveraging the displacement accumulation in the stepping mode, the same system achieved a 3 mm × 3 mm XY working range, 1-2 orders of magnitude larger than those direct-drive nanopositioners with a similar bandwidth. We further developed a versatile stick-slip AFM and demonstrated high-line-rate AFM imaging at 40 Hz over millimeter-scale areas. This work expands the functional scope of stick-slip nanopositioners, traditionally limited to static nanopositioning or long-range coarse positioning, and offers a cross-scale, high-bandwidth solution for next-generation AFMs.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65579-1

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