Very-high-frequency probes for atomic force microscopy with silicon optomechanics

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been consistently supporting nanosciences and nanotechnologies for over 30 years and is used in many fields from condensed matter physics to biology. It enables the measurement of very weak forces at the nanoscale, thus elucidating the interactions at play in fundamental processes. Here, we leverage the combined benefits of micro/nanoelectromechanical systems and cavity optomechanics to fabricate a sensor for dynamic mode AFM at a frequency above 100 MHz. This frequency is two decades above the fastest commercial AFM probes, suggesting an opportunity for measuring forces at timescales unexplored thus far. The fabrication is achieved using very-large-scale integration technologies derived from photonic silicon circuits. The probe’s optomechanical ring cavity is coupled to a 1.55 μm laser light and features a 130 MHz mechanical resonance mode with a quality factor of 900 in air. A limit of detection in the displacement of 3 × 10−16 m/√Hz is obtained, enabling the detection of the Brownian motion of the probe and paving the way for force sensing experiments in the dynamic mode with a working vibration amplitude in the picometer range. When inserted in a custom AFM instrument embodiment, this optomechanical sensor demonstrates the capacity to perform force-distance measurements and to maintain a constant interaction strength between the tip and sample, an essential requirement for AFM applications. Experiments indeed show a stable closed-loop operation with a setpoint of 4 nN/nm for an unprecedented subpicometer vibration amplitude, where the tip–sample interaction is mediated by a stretched water meniscus.