Monitoring of an atomic force microscope cantilever with a compact disk pickup

In the present study we test a compact disk pickup as the cantilever position sensor in an atomic force microscope (AFM). The pickup is placed on top of the optical microscope used for the visual inspection and alignment of the specimen. The AFM is also equipped with its own cantilever movement sensor system. Both the built-in and the new detection devices are simultaneously active for comparison purposes. Two different measurements are performed in sequence on the same sample each using one sensor at a time as the error signal source for the AFM feedback loop. The pickup has demonstrated good sensitivity as well as excellent performance in terms of compactness, reliability, and cost. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)05009-1].