ICSPI – Atomic Force Microscope

Nanoscale Imaging Has Never Been Easier

Collect nanoscale topography data on your benchtop in three clicks with the nGauge AFM.

ICSPI has integrated all of the components of a traditional AFM onto a single 1 mm x 1 mm chip to create the world’s first single-chip AFM. That means that 250 AFMs can fit on the face of a penny.

The nGauge AFM uses micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) to control the X, Y and Z position of the tip. This means that no alignment of lasers is required.

The nGauge is the smallest AFM in the world. Because the entire unit weighs less than 500 grams, the nGauge rejects building vibrations, so no vibration isolation table is needed, which makes the nGauge a true benchtop AFM.

What can I use AFM for?

AFM provides topographical data of a surface. That means that you can look at the shape and size of individual features, such as the pits on a DVD, or look at the particle density, such as the number of nanoparticles in an area.

The nGauge AFM can be used to investigate surfaces where the features are up to 10 µm tall. It’s tricky to pinpoint a lower limit, but the RMS noise in the vertical (z) direction of the nGauge is 1 nanometre (nm). So, depending on your requirements, features as small as 5–10 nm can be imaged with the nGauge with acceptable accuracy.

To put what a nanometer is into perspective, a quarter (25-cent coin) is about 2 cm wide. An E. coli bacterium cell is 2 µm wide (10,000× smaller than a quarter). And the diameter of a DNA helix is 2 nm (1,000× smaller than a bacterium).