Akiyama-Probe History

The the novel self-sensing and self-actuating probe was invented at SAMLAB, the Institute of Microtechnology (IMT) of the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, by Dr. Terunobu AKIYAMA in 2001.

The probe is named the Akiyama-Probe or A-Probe to honor its inventor.

Akiyama-Probe has been developed for the NANOSENSORS™ brand in cooperation with SAMLAB at the Institute of Microtechnology (IMT) at the University of Neuchatel, Nanosurf AG (Liestal Switzerland) and NanoWorld AG (Neuchâtel Switzerland) in 2005-2006.

The development project was supported by the Swiss Commission for Innovation and Technology (CTI).

Related publications

• T. Akiyama et al.,“Implementation and characterization of a quartz tuning fork based probe consisted of discrete resonators for dynamic mode atomic force microscopy,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 063706 (2010)

• D. Bayat et al.,“Dynamic behavior of the tuning fork AFM probe,” Micro. Eng., Vol. 85, pp. 1018-1021 (2008)
• T. Akiyama et al.,“Scanning Probe with Tuning Fork Sensor, Microfabricated Silicon Cantilever and Conductive Tip for Microscopy at Cryogenic Temperature,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Part 1 45, 1992 (2006)
• K. Suter et al. ,“Local Oxidation of Titanium Using Dynamic–Mode Tuning–Fork Probe with Microfabricated Silicon Cantilever,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Part 1 45, 2099 (2006)
• A. Baumgartner,“Local investigation of the classical and the quantum hall effect”, Ph.D thesis ETH Zürich, Nr. 15923, (2005)
• T. Akiyama et al.,“Novel Dynamic Scanning Microscope Probe and its Application to Local Electrical Measurement in an Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistor,” Proc. of Materials Research Society Symposium Fall Meeting Boston 2004, pp. 011.1.1-011.1.6 (2004)
• T. Akiyama et al. ,“Symmetrically arranged quartz tuning fork with soft cantilever for intermittent contact mode atomic force microscopy,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 74, 112 (2003)
• T. Akiyama et al.,“Self-sensing and self-actuating probe based on quartz tuning fork combined with microfabricated cantilever for dynamic mode atomic force microscopy,” Applied Surface Science, Vol. 210, pp. 18-21 (2003)
• K. Suter et al. ,“Tuning Fork AFM with Conductive Cantilever,” AIP Conf. Proc. 696, 227 (2003)