[poster] Active Cantilever with Dual Actuator

Bartosz Pruchnik1, Fabian Dietrich2, Richard Subianto2, Katerina Ivanova2, Athulya K. Muraleedharan Bindu2, Hans-Georg Pietscher2, Javad Basseri2, Muralikrishnan Brajesh Kaimal2, Władysław Kopczyński1, Wojciech Godlewski1, Dominik Badura1, Piotr Putek1, Krzysztof Kwoka1, Piotr Smagowski1, Andrew Yacoot3, Tomasz Piasecki1, Fangzhou Xia4, Ivo W. Rangelow2 

Active Cantilever with Dual Actuator

52nd International Micro and Nano Engineering Conference

Sep. 21-24, 2026 Interlaken (CH)

MEN2026 Poster S05A-T2-P-5

1. Wrocław University of Science and Technology,

2. nano analytik GmbH, 

3. National Physical Laboratory

4. University of Texas at Austin

Abstract: Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is often limited by the speed and bandwidth of three main components: the cantilever, the scanner, and the controller. Recent microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have improved the performance of the cantilever and scanner by combining high-speed active cantilevers with low-latency scanners. In this work, we present a standardized active cantilever design. The system combines a large cantilever that acts as a Z-axis actuator with a smaller active cantilever sensor that provides a bandwidth greater than 400kHz. The smaller cantilever is integrated into the larger structure, creating a compact and highly responsive device. We introduce a new active cantilever architecture that uses two integrated electrothermal actuators. One actuator is used for cantilever operation, while the second provides vertical (Z-axis) movement for surface tracking. This design allows AFM measurements to be performed without the need for an external piezoelectric z-actuator.

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101072775, and by the National Science Centre, Poland (grant No. 2021/41/B/ST7/03144).

[paper] Cantilever with Carbon Piezoresistor

Jongmoon Jang, Giulia Panusa, Giovanni Boero and Juergen Brugger 

SU-8 Cantilever with Integrated Pyrolyzed Glass-Like Carbon Piezoresistor

Microsyst Nanoeng 8, 22 (2022)

DOI:10.1038/s41378-022-00351-9

Abstract: Glass-like carbon (GC) is a nongraphitizing material composed entirely of carbon atoms produced from selected organic polymer resins by controlled pyrolysis in an inert atmosphere. The GC properties are a combination of the properties of glass, ceramic, and graphite, including hardness, low density, low thermal conductivity, high chemical inertness, biocompatibility, high electrical conductivity, and microfabrication process compatibility. Despite these unique properties, the application of GC in mechanical sensors has not been explored thus far. Here, we investigate the electrical, structural, and chemical properties of GC thin films derived from epoxy-based negative photoresist SU-8 pyrolyzed from 700 to 900°C. In addition, we fabricated microGC piezoresistors pyrolyzed at 700 and 900 °C and integrated them into nonpyrolyzed SU-8 cantilevers to create microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) mechanical sensors. The sensitivities of the GC sensor to strain, force, surface stress, and acceleration are characterized to demonstrate their potential and limits for electromechanical microdevices.

Fig: Design and layout of the glass-like carbon (GC)-based sensor:

a.) Schematic drawing of the GC strain sensor, and

b.) Enlarged optical microscopic image of a fabricated GC piezoresistor

Acknowledgements: The authors thank the Center of Micro/Nanotechnology (CMi) of EPFL for the microelectromechanical system (MEMS) fabrication support and Bio-Micro Robotics laboratory with Professor Hongsoo Choi of DGIST for the microforce probe system facility support. This work received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Project “MEMS 4.0”, ERC-2016-ADG, Grant Agreement No. 742683) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (No. 2020R1F1A107422211).