A piezotube scanner for atomic force microscopy in solution

A novel piezotube scanner used in the atomic force microscope (AFM) is described. Unlike other designs where the electrodes on the outside are subjected to high voltage, in our design all electrodes are placed on the inside of the tube scanner, and the outside electrode is simply grounded. With this design and a proper choice of piezomaterials, the scan range of a 1.75 in. tube can be as large as 15 mu m when used with NanoScope III, and is not vulnerable to leaking solutions, which often cause severe damage to both the piezotube and the high-voltage driver with the other designs. Therefore, this new design will be valuable for biological AFM where imaging in solution is often required, and is simple enough to be fitted to an existing AFM. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.