event
Thursday 20 Oct 2011: Cantilevers are fixed only at one end
Dr Leon Abelmann - University of Twente
Harrison 170 (3D Visualisation Suite) 14:00-15:00
Micromachined cantilevers are amazingly useful things. Without them, scanning probe microscopes would be complex tools only to be used by physicists.
Even without tip they are quite handy, and can be used to determine mechanical
properties of materials deposited on them. Simple as they may be, the theory
behind them is quite rich. In my talk I will give some examples of errors we
made in the theoretical analysis of cantilevers. Perhaps you can learn from our
mistakes, or at least have a good laugh.
Next, I will present exotic cantilevers with integrated tips we fabricated in
our group, such as the CantiClever. This probe
formed the basis of the company SmartTip), who now make real money on
CIPT probes. I will show arrays of cantilevers with ultrasharp probes made
in a supersimple two mask process, and parallel readout of the complete array
using one single laser beam. Special attention will be paid
to the work of Hammad Nazeer, who uses cantilevers to determine the Youngs
modulus of piezo- and phase change materials.
