Microfabricated electrical connector for AFM probes with integrated sensor/actuator

Demonstrates a microfabricated electrical connector for AFM probes which would otherwise require wire-bonded contacts for operation, e.g. for reading piezoresistive, or capacitive sensors, or driving piezoelectric deflection actuators. Considering the relatively short life time of AFM cantilevers, compared to other kinds of sensors like pressure sensors, it is a time consuming effort to glue them on small printed circuit boards (PCB) and contacting them by wire bonding. A simple "plug-in" socket, or connector, would be highly desirable. There are already commercial AFM instruments which exclusively uses piezoresistive cantilevers (e.g. Nanopics 1000, SEIKO instruments, Japan). This fact is proof for the need of such connectors and has strongly encouraged the authors to pursue this study.