Noncontact nanometric positioning of probe tip for continuous stiffness measurement system

This paper presents noncontact nanometric positioning of on-chip probe. In order to obtain nanometric order resolution, we proposed the reduction mechanism. We succeeded in nanometric order non-contact actuation of on-chip probe by using reduction mechanism. This mechanism utilizes magnetic force and the difference of stiffness of the beam and center structure. The on-chip probe features are 1. possible to operate in a flow environment in a biochip, 2. accurate positioning with high resolution, 3. parallel plate mechanisms for stable operation and 4. reduction rate depends on only the rate of stiffness. In this paper we developed on-chip nanometric probe with reduction mechanism. The performance of the probe was examined. We succeeded in nanometric order non-contact actuation of on-chip probe.