Electrothermal microcantilever with integrated solid-state heater-thermometer and npn back-to-back diodes

Abstract

This paper reports the integration of both electrical and thermal elements into an atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever, where the electrode and heater-thermometer are electrically isolated by an NPN back-to-back diode. The electrothermal (ET) cantilever can be self-heated to more than 400°C while the tip voltage can be measured or controlled independent of tip temperature, up to 10 volts. To our knowledge, this is the first microcantilever to have a solid-state junction and heater integrated near a tip.