An AFM-based device for in-situ characterization of nano-wear

An innovative tool has been developed to investigate in-situ monitoring of surface modification, which can be used in standard Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM). The device enables detection of topography modification on nanometer scale lateral- and subnanometer vertical resolution, which is important for reliability studies of MEMS and NEMS, where small moving parts may contact each other leading to wear. The novelty of the device is that surface modification (e.g. wear) is generated in a controlled way with a multifunctional cantilever and it is identified in-situ, the detection and the surface modification being decoupled but embedded in one and the same device.