Electrostatic force-feedback force sensor incorporated in an ultrahigh vacuum force microscope

A force sensor based on a fiber-optic interferometric displacement transducer incorporated in an ultrahigh vacuum atomic force microscope is described. The operation of the sensor is based on balancing the tip-sample interfacial force using an electrostatic actuator. The electrodes of the actuator are formed by the grounded W cantilever and the metallized end facet of the optical fiber used by the interferometer. Chemical reduction of Ag by a wet chemical method is used for metal coating of the fiber end. A special masking procedure is used to obtain a window hole in the metal coating at the position of the fiber core to allow for optical beam output. Using a window instead of a semitransparent metal film allows us to save the low-finesse characteristics of the interferometer which facilitates the calibration of cantilever displacement. The performance of the sensor is discussed and exemplified by experimental results from force-separation measurements on the W–Au system in ultrahigh vacuum.