Electrothermally driven high-frequency piezoresistive SiC cantilevers for dynamic atomic force microscopy

Cantilevers with resonance frequency ranging from 1 MHz to 100MHz have been developed for dynamic atomic force microscopy. These sensors are fabricated from 3C-SiC epilayers grown on Si( 100) substrates by low pressure chemical vapor deposition. They use an on-chip method both for driving and sensing the displacement of the cantilever. A first gold metallic loop deposited on top of the cantilever is used to drive its oscillation by electrothermal actuation. The sensing of this oscillation is performed by monitoring the resistance of a second Au loop. This metallic piezoresistive detection method has distinct advantages relative to more common semiconductor-based schemes. The optimization, design, fabrication, and characteristics of these cantilevers are discussed. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.