A new three dimensional (3D) atomic force microscopic (AFM) probe, referred to as the 3D-Nanoprobe, is introduced. The 3D-Nanoprobe is realized by introducing flexure hinge structures to the cantilever of a conventional critical dimension AFM (CD-AFM) probe. It has quasi-isotropic stiffness in 3D directions and is thus more powerful for detecting 3D tip-sample interaction forces in AFM measurements. In addition, the stiffness of the 3D-Nanoprobe is balanced to the bending stiffness of slender CD-AFM tips, offering improved 3D sensitivity. In this paper, a design example of a 3D-Nanoprobe based on a CD-AFM probe with a tip nominal diameter of 70 nm is presented. The design parameters are optimized via analytic modelling and the finite element analysis (FEA) method. The simulation results indicate that the designed 3D-Nanoprobe has much better performance than that of the original CD-AFM probe, for instance, its stiffness’ anisotropy ratio (including the tip contribution) has been...

中文翻译：

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真正的3D-AFM纳米计量传感器

引入了一种新的三维（3D）原子力显微镜（AFM）探针，称为3D-纳米探针。通过将挠性铰链结构引入常规临界尺寸AFM（CD-AFM）探针的悬臂中来实现3D-Nanoprobe。它在3D方向上具有准各向同性的刚度，因此在检测AFM测量中的3D尖端样品相互作用力方面更为强大。此外，3D纳米探针的刚度与细长CD-AFM尖端的弯曲刚度相平衡，从而提高了3D灵敏度。在本文中，提出了一个基于CD-AFM探针的3D纳米探针的设计示例，探针的标称直径为70 nm。通过分析建模和有限元分析（FEA）方法对设计参数进行优化。