In this paper, we present a method for conducting automated micromanipulation that uses a cantilevered micropipette probe (CMP), which is capable of high-sensitivity contact detection. A dynamic probing method is proposed to achieve highly precise and nondestructive micromanipulation with the slightly oscillating CMP (amplitude: ~5 nm, the 1$^{st}$ resonance mode). By measuring the frequency shift of the CMP in real time, this method not only can accurately control the contact force at the nanoNewton level, but also can determine whether a mass as small as several picograms (10$^{-12}$g) is successfully picked up or released. A microrobotic system with the top- and side-view microscopes is developed for adhesive microbonding through two cooperating CMPs. The effectiveness of the method is verified by conducting 3D manipulation of microbeads of diameters varying from 3 μm to 20 μm, assembling 2D and 3D structures with a sub-micrometer accuracy, attaching a microbead to an atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe for stiffness calibration, and fabricating a functional AFM probe by adhesively bonding a magnetic microbead to AFM cantilevers. The experimental results demonstrate the versatility and robustness of the developed method in the field of automated micromanipulation and adhesive microbonding.

This paper presents a method that combines a robust controller ( $H_\infty$ ) and an iterative learning controller (ILC) to control a low mechanical bandwidth nanopositioning stage for high-speed atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging. In conventional scanning configurations, the imaging speed of a low-resonance frequency scanner is limited to a few Hz. However, the images obtained using the proposed method have no obvious anamorphosis with a scan speed of up to 80 Hz. This method uses a sinusoidal scanning mode in the fast-scan axis, which effectively reduces the mechanical vibration of the XY-scanner and improves the imaging bandwidth. In addition, a compact high-bandwidth Z-scanner configured with a symmetrical dual-actuator was developed to replace the Z-axis of the nanopositioning stage for high-speed tracking of the sample topography. To further improve the imaging performance, an ILC was designed to suppress the nonlinear behavior of piezoelectric and reduce the tracking error. In addition, a model-based $H_\infty$ was designed to reduce the measurement error and enhance the image quality. All algorithms and real-time control are implemented with a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) platform. The experimental results demonstrated that these configurations exhibit significant performance improvements by comparison with conventional scanning modes.

Nanorobotic manipulation technique has been regarded as one of the most dominating approaches to upgrade the functions of microscope benefits from its complex and precise operation system. At the current stage, although atomic force microscopy (AFM) is capable of mapping specimens on a two-dimensional/partial three dimensional (3-D) plane, a full orientation of 360° characterization still remains a challenge for AFM. Taking advantage of a nanorobotic manipulation system (NMS), 360° mapping and 3-D reconstruction of topography and nanomechanical properties are presented in this paper. Compared with recent advances of AFM mapping techniques, our proposed method is able to realize effective, large area characterization and integral results can be directly perceived through 3-D reconstruction. In this paper, a six degrees-of-freedom NMS assembled inside AFM and task specification are first proposed. Second, home positioning method for effective specimen rotation scanning is introduced. Third, 3-D reconstruction methods for the topography and nanomechanical properties of the specimen are presented. After that, 360° characterization of three different types of specimens, human hair (anisotropic biological material), trapezoidal cantilever, and conical micropipette (isotropic inorganic material) are adopted to demonstrate the feasibility and practicability of our proposed system. Finally, the 3-D reconstruction results of selected specimens are analyzed. This paper fills the blank of current AFM topography and nanomechanical characterization methodologies, which is expected to give a long-term impact in the fundamental nanomaterial research and practical micro/nano characterization.

Sidewall roughness measurement is becoming increasingly important in the micro-electromechanical systems and nanoelectronics devices. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an emerging technique for sidewall scanning and roughness measurement due to its high resolution, three-dimensional imaging capability and high accuracy. We report an AFM sidewall imaging method with a quartz tuning fork (QTF) force sensor. A self sensing and actuating force sensor is fabricated by microassembling a commercial AFM cantilever (tip apex radius ≤10 nm) to a QTF. The attached lightweight cantilever allows high-sensitivity force detection (7.4% Q factor reduction) and sidewall imaging with high lateral resolution. Owing to its unique configuration, the tip of the sensor can detect sidewall surface orthogonally during imaging, which reduces lateral friction. In experiments, sidewalls of a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) structure fabricated by deep reactive ion etching process and a standard step grating are scanned and the sidewall roughness, line edge roughness and sidewall angles are measured.