High precision deflection measurement of microcantilever in an optical pickup head based atomic force microscopy

This paper presents the methodology to measure the precise deflection of microcantilever in an optical pickup head based atomic force microscopy. In this paper, three types of calibration methods have been proposed: full linearization, sectioned linearization, and the method based on astigmatism. In addition, the probe heads for easy calibration of optical pickup head and fast replacement of optical pickup head have been developed. The performances of each method have been compared through a set of experiments and constant height mode operation which was not possible in the optical pickup head based atomic force microscopy has been carried out successfully.