Calibration of atomic force microscope probes using a pneumatic micromanipulation system

This paper presents an easy-to-use and efficient implementation of the added mass method for calibrating various
atomic force microscope (AFM) probes without damage to the probe, which is based on the added mass method. The method is achieved by using a pneumatic control system and a home-made glass micro-pipette. Compared with the conventional added mass method, this method achieves the operation of the loading mass by negative pressure rather than the capillary force/electrostatic force, which is more stable and reliable. Therefore, it is efficient
and reliable for placing/removing the loading mass to/from the AFM probe. It is a major significance for the calibration
of unconventional shape cantilever. To confirm its ability, the polystyrene (PS) sphere is used as the loading mass to calibrate various AFM probes. The above experimental results show that this method can accurately and conveniently calibrate various AFM probes with less time consuming.