CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Kyoto University Research Information Repository Analog frequency modulation detector for dynamic force Title microscopy Kobayashi, Kei; Yamada, Hirofumi; Itoh, Hiroshi; Horiuchi, Author(s) Toshihisa; Matsushige, Kazumi REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS (2001), 72(12): Citation 4383-4387 Issue Date 2001-12 URL http://hdl.handle.net/2433/39804 Copyright 2001 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires Right prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. Type Journal Article Textversion publisher Kyoto University REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS VOLUME 72, NUMBER 12 DECEMBER 2001 Analog frequency modulation detector for dynamic force microscopy Kei Kobayashi,a) Hirofumi Yamada, Hiroshi Itoh,b) Toshihisa Horiuchi, and Kazumi Matsushige Department of Electronic Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan ͑Received 7 March 2001; accepted for publication 17 September 2001͒ A new analog frequency modulation ͑FM͒ detector ͑demodulator͒ for dynamic force microscopy ͑DFM͒ is presented. The detector is designed for DFM by utilizing the FM detection method where the resonance frequency shift of the force sensor is kept constant to regulate the distance between a tip and a sample surface. The FM detector employs a phase-locked loop ͑PLL͒ circuit using a voltage-controlled crystal oscillator ͑VCXO͒ so that the thermal drift of the output signal is negligibly reduced. The PLL is used together with a frequency conversion ͑heterodyne͒ circuit allowing the FM detector to be used for a wide variety of force sensors with the resonance frequency ranging from 10 kHz to 10 MHz. The minimum detectable frequency shift was as small as 0.1 Hz at the detection bandwidth of 1 kHz. The detector can track a resonance frequency shift as large as 1 kHz. We also present some experimental results including the observations of the Si͑111͒-7ϫ7 reconstructed surface and fullerene molecules deposited on the surface by DFM using this FM detector. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. ͓DOI: 10.1063/1.1416104͔ I. INTRODUCTION the FM detector and is kept constant to regulate the gap A. Dynamic force microscopy DFM distance. „ … The FM detection method has been rapidly common for Since a vibrating force sensor in dynamic force micros- DFM in an ultra-high-vacuum ͑UHV͒ condition. In this case, copy ͑DFM͒͑Refs. 1–3͒ is scanned over the surface without a slight negative frequency shift of the vibrating cantilever is a static contact, the technique is a powerful tool especially gently controlled and used to obtain highly resolved images. for soft samples for which the tip perturbation has to be Following the first success of taking an atomically resolved reduced in order to avoid damaging surface structures. In image of the Si͑111͒-7ϫ7 reconstructed surface,4 a large DFM, a force sensor such as a cantilever with a tip is vi- number of clear images on semiconductors,5,6 alkali halides,7 8,9 brated at or near the resonance frequency. When the tip is and molecules have been obtained by DFM utilizing the brought close enough to the sample, the resonance frequency FM detection method. is shifted due to a tip–sample interaction. The resulting reso- nance frequency shift can be used to regulate the distance between the tip and the sample. B. Frequency modulation „FM… detector There are two major methods to detect such a shift in the resonance frequency of the force sensor in DFM. The most The FM detector is one of the critical instruments in the experimental setup for the FM detection method. Among common method in an ambient condition is the amplitude various detectors used for the FM detection method, the most detection method,2 where the force sensor is vibrated at a common detectors are a quadrature detector and a phase- frequency near the resonance frequency and the change in locked loop ͑PLL͒ detector.10–12 Considering the practical the vibration amplitude due to the resonance frequency shift applications in DFM, the working frequency range is a very is kept constant to regulate the tip–sample distance. Though important factor to design the FM detector. an experimental setup for the amplitude detection method is In the case of the quadrature detector, the working fre- very simple, the method suffers from a long relaxation time quency range is very narrow so that the circuit parameters when a force sensor with a high Q factor is used. In particu- must be adjusted for a different force sensor with a varying lar, the long relaxation time often becomes a serious problem resonance frequency is changed unless a frequency conver- in an environment such as a vacuum environment, where the sion ͑heterodyne͒ circuit is utilized. On the other hand, in the Q factor typically reaches 10 000. The frequency modulation case of the PLL detector, the working frequency range is ͑FM͒ detection method3 is a solution to this problem. In the determined by a tuning range of a voltage-controlled oscilla- FM detection method, the force sensor is kept oscillated at its tor ͑VCO͒ in the PLL. Thus it is very easy to implement the resonance frequency by positive feedback loop electronics. PLL detector that can be used for a wide variety of force The shift of the resonance frequency is monitored by using sensors with any resonance frequency without changing cir- cuit parameters by utilizing VCO with a wide tuning range. ͒ For this reason, the PLL detector is often equipped for the a Present address: International Innovation Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan; electronic mail: [email protected] FM detection method in commercially available DFM instru- b͒Present address: Agilent Laboratories, Kawasaki 213-0012, Japan. ments. In addition, PLL detectors have some advantages be- 0034-6748/2001/72(12)/4383/5/$18.004383 © 2001 American Institute of Physics Downloaded 04 Jun 2007 to 130.54.110.22. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright, see http://rsi.aip.org/rsi/copyright.jsp 4384 Rev. Sci. Instrum., Vol. 72, No. 12, December 2001 Kobayashi et al. FIG. 1. Schematic of an analog fre- quency modulation detector. The de- tector consists of a frequency conver- sion circuit and a phase-locked loop ͑PLL͒ using a voltage-controlled crys- tal oscillator ͑VCXO͒. The PLL block is indicated by a dashed rectangle. The frequency of an input signal ( f 0)is converted to the intermediate fre- quency ͑IF͒, which is 4.5 MHzϮ450 Hz, by frequency mixing with the out- put signal of the local oscillator. The output signal of the VCXO can be used to make an excitation signal by another frequency mixing. cause the output signal of the VCO can be used to excite the intermediate frequency ͑IF͒, which is within the working fre- force sensor.13 quency range of the PLL. When a small shift in the input Since the dominant noise source in each detector is the frequency is caused, the IF also shifts by the same amount phase noise of the phase detector, the sensitivity is the same and then the shift is measured as the control voltage of the for each detector in principle. Although many integrated cir- VCXO in the PLL, which is fed to the feedback electronics cuits ͑ICs͒ designed to implement the PLL detector are com- to regulate the gap distance. Moreover, the output frequency mercially available, their specifications do not satisfy DFM of the VCXO can be used for an excitation of the cantilever applications since integrated VCOs in these ICs often have a vibration after another frequency conversion to the input fre- large thermal drift in the output frequency. Such a large ther- quency. mal drift is due to the fact that the output frequency of the In DFM, the tip–sample distance is regulated by main- VCO is determined by passive electrical components. taining a small frequency shift constant. The shift can be We consider that the PLL detector utilizing a highly negative or positive depending on the tip position ͑attractive stable VCO is one of the ideal FM detector. We also consider regime or repulsive regime, respectively͒. Since the amount that the VCO can be thermally stabilized using a frequency- of the frequency shift ranges from several hertz to several stabilizing element such as a crystal resonator or a ceramic hundred hertz for typical DFM operating conditions, we de- resonator with a high Q factor. It should be noted that an- cided to use an operating frequency range of the PLL of other solution is to use digital circuits to implement the about 1 kHz. The typical tuning range for the VCXO is sev- 14,15 VCO, which is also stabilized using a crystal oscillator eral hundred ppm of the center frequency, and thus we de- generating a clock signal. cided to use the VCXO with the center frequency of several In this article we introduce a new FM detector using a megahertz. An effective bandpass filter is required in the voltage-controlled crystal oscillator ͑VCXO͒ as the VCO in frequency conversion circuit to eliminate the undesirable fre- the PLL in order to decrease the thermal drift. In this detec- quency spectrum other than the signal component around the tor, the PLL is used together with a frequency conversion IF. A frequency of 4.5 MHz was chosen as the IF since a circuit allowing the FM detector to be used for a wide variety ceramic bandpass filter with the center frequency of 4.5 MHz of force sensors. An implementation of the FM detector and was commercially available.16 some experimental results obtained using the detector are described. A.