Development of a Nanohandling Robot Station for Nanocharacterization by an AFM Probe

Current research work on the development of an nanohandling station using the probe of an atomic force microscope (AFM) as an end-effector is presented. The manipulation of individual multiwall-nanotubes (MWNTs) and the characterization of eukaryotic cells are aspired applications. For this reason, the station has to be flexible enough to be integrated both into a scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the nanomanipulation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and into an optical microscope for the cell characterization. Another implemented application in the SEM is the characterization of nanofilms by nanoindentation. The experimental setup consists out of a nanopositioning piezo sample stage with three degrees of freedom (DoF) and a three-axes nanomanipulator. Piezoresistive AFM probes are applied as an end-effector. This way the acting forces can be detected allowing force feedback for the station´s control system. First investigations have been carried out by bending of MWNTs and calculating the elastic modulus of a MWNT