A new type of atomic force microscope based on chaotic motions

Local flow variation (LFV) method of non-linear time series analysis is applied to develop a chaotic motion-based atomic force microscope (AFM). The method is validated by analyzing time series from a simple numerical model of a tapping mode AFM. For both calibration and measurement procedures the simulated motions of the AFM are nominally chaotic. However, the distance between a tip of the AFM and a sample surface is still measured accurately. The LFV approach is independent of any particular model of the system and is expected to be applicable to other micro-electro-mechanical system sensors where chaotic motions are observed or can be introduced. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.