3D nanomanipulation using atomic force microscopy

The use of atomic force microscope (AFM) as a nanomanipulator has been evolving for various kinds of nanomanipulation tasks. Due to the bow effect of the piezo scanner of the AFM, the AFM space is different from the Cartesian space. In this paper, different 3-D nanomanipulation tasks using AFM such as nanolithography, pushing and cutting are discussed. 3-D path planning are performed directly in the AFM space and the 3-D paths are generated based on the 3-D topography information of the surface represented in the AFM space. This approach can avoid the mappings between the AFM space and Cartesian space in planning. By following the generated motion paths, the tip can either follow the topography of the surface or move across the surface by avoiding collision with bumps. Nanomanipulation using this method can be considered as the "true" 3-D operations since the cantilever tip can be controlled to follow any desired 3-D trajectory within the range of AFM space. The experimental study shows the effectiveness of the planning and control scheme.