Background Art Up to now, attempts to manufacture a variety of elements and parts using the nano technology have been actively made. The size of products manufactured with use of the nano technology is generally less than hundreds of nanometers. To predict mechanical properties of such products and develop design technologies, the techniques for measuring mechanical properties of a test specimen whose size is less than hundreds of nanometers is required. Nanoindentation tests are very useful as methods of measuring the mechanical properties of the test specimen whose size is within a range of nanometers. Since such a nanoindentation testing function is employed in the AFM technologies that are under rapid development, attempts to measure mechanical properties such as elastic modulus and hardness of a small-sized test specimen that has never been measured even by any conventional tester can be made.

Some commercial AFM products having a nanoindentation testing function are sold. Fig. 1 schematically shows an AFM cantilever portionof the conventional AFM having an indentation testing function. The general AFM cantilever and AFM tip are made of silicon, whereas the AFM cantilever having a nanoindentation testing function is made of stainless steel and the AFM tip mounted thereon is made with diamond.

One end of the AFM cantilever 10 is fixed to a fixed stage 40 and the other end of the AFM cantilever 10 becomes a free end. The AFM tip 20 is attached to a surface of the other end of the AFM cantilever 10, and a mirror 30 is mounted on the opposite surface thereof. Further, a light source (not shown) for illuminating light 70, such as laser, to the mirror 30 and a light-receiving element (not shown) for receiving light reflected from the mirror are provided to a main body of the AFM. A test specimen 60 to be measured is mounted on an xyz scanner 50 below the AFM tip 20 to be in contact with the AFM tip 20, so that the surface shape and mechanical property of the test specimen 60 are measured.

An indentation testing process for measuring the mechanical properties of the test specimen 60 using the conventional AFM shown in Fig. 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 2. When the xyz scanner 50 with the test specimen 60 mounted thereon is raised from a state"a"to a state"b" (in a z-axis direction), the AFM cantilever 10 is also displaced from a state"A to a state"B". Accordingly, a contact surface of the test specimen that is in contact with the AFM tip 20 is indented and deformed by the AFM tip 20. (On the other hand, it may be configured in such a manner that the xyz scanner 50 with the test specimen 60 mounted thereon is fixed and the fixed stage 40 with the AFM cantilever 10 fixed thereto is moved. ) An amount of displacement of the AFM cantilever 10 is measured by detecting a light-receiving position of the light 70 reflected from the mirror 30 using the light-receiving element such as a photodiode, and an amount of indentation deformation of the test specimen is accordingly calculated from the difference between the amount of displacement of the AFM cantilever 10 and the amount of movement of the xyz scanner in the z-axis direction. At the moment, as shown in Fig. 2, the AFM tip is subject to a lateral motion xo as well as a vertical motion zo due to the inherent structure of the AFM cantilever 10. The general AFM is designed to measure the surface shape of the test specimen, and the lateral motion generated upon the vertical motion of the AFM cantilever is not issued. If the nanoindentation testing function is added to the conventional AFM, however, the unnecessary lateral motion in addition to the desired vertical indentation motion are generated in the AFM cantilever due to mechanical characteristics of the AFM cantilever. Therefore, the following several problems occur.

That is, since the lateral motion becomes a significant error factor in the measurement of the mechanical properties of the specimen, some compensation for the lateral motion should be made such that the exact measuring results for the amount of indentation deformation of the test specimen can be obtained.

To compensate for the lateral motion, the conventional AFM may be operated as shown in Fig. 3. That is, when the test specimen 60 is subject to the lateral indentation deformation, the xyz scanner 50 is allowed to move the test specimen 60 in the horizontal direction by the amount xo, so that the influence of the lateral motion can be removed. The removal of the lateral motion influence in such a manner may involve a variety of problems such as vibration occurring upon the movement of the test specimen 60, an error in the amount of movement of the test specimen, and a synchronization error between the lateral indentation motion and the test specimen movement, which in turn cause uncertainty of the measurement results to increase. In addition, the AFM cantilever of the conventional AFM is further bent on the fixed end during the indentation test. Therefore, when an indentation depth is calculated, the motion of the AFM tip positioned at the end of the cantilever should be assumed from the geometric shape of the AFM cantilever and tip. However, geometric uncertainty induced when manufacturing the AFM cantilever and tip becomes a significant error factor in the calculation of indentation depth. Since the indentation depth is a raw data that is very important in the physical property measurement, it also causes errors in the physical property measurement results. Therefore, to measure the mechanical property of the test specimen more accurately using the AFM, the aforementioned problems that may be produced in the nanoindentation test using the conventional AFM must be solved.

Disclosure of Invention The present invention is conceived to solve the aforementioned problems of the conventional AFM with relation to the nano indentation test. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an AFM cantilever capable of accurately measuring physical properties of specimens by solving the problems including the lateral motion compensation and the indentation depth calculation in nanoindentation tests.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an AFM cantilever that has a nanoindentation testing function, the AFM cantilever being compatible with the conventional AFM equipment.

The lateral motion generated from the conventional AFM cantilever is caused by the mechanical characteristics of the AFM cantilever. The present invention solves the aforementioned problems generated from the lateral motion of the AFM cantilever, by designing the AFM cantilever such that the lateral motion is not generated therefrom upon its deformation.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the objects, there is provided an AFM cantilever having an indentation testing function in a direction along an axis, the AFM cantilever comprising one end mounted on a fixed stage, the other end that is mounted with an AFM tip, and a hollow frame which takes a shape symmetric with respect to a plane including the axis on which the two ends are positioned.

The AFM cantilever may be symmetric with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis.

The AFM cantilever may be shaped as one selected from the group consisting of a quadrangular cylinder, a circular cylinder, an elliptical cylinder, a sphere and a three-dimensional ellipse. Further, the AFM cantilever may be mounted with a mirror for reflecting light or with a displacement sensor between the two ends of the AFM cantilever. At this time, the displacement sensor may include a capacitance-type sensor or LVDT sensor.

Brief Description of Drawings Fig. 1 is a schematic, cross-sectional view of an AFM cantilever having an indentation testing function.

Figs. 2 and 3 are cross-sectional views illustrating an indentation test for measuring mechanical properties of a test specimen using the conventional AFM cantilever shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a schematic, cross-sectional view of an AFM cantilever having an indentation testing function according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an indentation test for measuring mechanical properties of a test specimen using the AFM cantilever shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a schematic, cross-sectional view of a modified example of the AFM cantilever having an indentation testing function according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a schematic, perspective view of an AFM head to which the AFM cantilever having an indentation testing function according to the first embodiment of the present invention is mounted.

Fig. 8 is a schematic, cross-sectional view of an AFM cantilever having an indentation testing function according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying out the Invention Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[First embodiment] Fig. 4 is a schematic, cross-sectional view of an AFM cantilever having a nanoindentation testing function according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The AFM cantilever 110 is fixedly mounted to a fixed stage 140 at an end thereof and is also mounted with an AFM tip 120 at the other end thereof, as shown in Fig. 4. In this case, the opposite ends of the AFM cantilever are positioned on a line Z- Z parallel to a z-axis. The AFM cantilever 110 takes the shape of a hollow frame symmetric with respect to the line Z-Z (more specifically, with respect to a yz plane).

That is, the AFM cantilever 110 comprises upper portions I I Oa that extend downward in a symmetric manner with respect to the line Z-Z'divergently from the fixed stage 140, and lower portions 1 lOb that further extend downward convergently from the respective ends of the upper portions I I Oa in a symmetric manner. A mirror 130 is mounted on one side of the left upper portion I I Oa of the AFM cantilever, which is a position where light from a light source of the AFM with the AFM cantilever mounted thereto is reflected to a light-receiving element of the AFM, i. e. a position corresponding to the position where the mirror 30 is mounted on the conventional AFM cantilever 10 shown in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 5, since the AFM cantilever 110 has a geometrically symmetric shape, a lateral motion (in an x-axis direction) is not produced in the AFM cantilever 110 during an indentation test in which an xyz scanner 150 causes a test specimen 160 to be raised in-axis direction. Therefore, the AFM cantilever 110 of the present invention can measure an indentation depth without compensating for the lateral motion upon the calculation of the indentation depth. To measure the indentation depth, an amount of movement of an AFM tip is measured as follows.

That is, the mirror 130 mounted on the one side of the upper portion I I Oa of the AFM cantilever is first installed on the same position as the mirror 30 of the conventional AFM cantilever 10 as shown in Fig. 1, and the light emitted from the light source mounted on a main body of the AFM is then caused to be reflected from the mirror, as described above with reference to Fig. 2, so that the light-receiving element installed on the main body of the AFM can receive the light reflected from the mirror. Since the AFM cantilever 110 of the present embodiment is elastic, the motions of the upper and lower portions l lOa and 11 Ob of the AFM cantilever are in linear relation. Therefore, the motion of the lower portion 11 Ob with the AFM tip 120 mounted thereon can be calculated with a minimum error from the motion of the upper portion 110a. Since the AFM cantilever is generally a consumable, the AFM cantilever is always detachably mounted to the main body of the AFM. Therefore, the AFM cantilever according to this embodiment of the present invention can be mounted to and employed in the existing AFM equipment without any modifications.

The operational principle of the AFM cantilever 110 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail. Regardless of whether the AFM is used to measure a surface shape or to perform a nanoindentation test, what is important is to measure interaction between the test specimen and the AFM tip. The conventional AFM calculates the interaction between the test specimen 60 and the AFM tip 20 by measuring the displacement of the AFM cantilever 10 using laser and derives the surface shape of the test specimen on the basis of the calculated interaction. In measuring the surface shape using the AFM, quantitative values for the interaction force between the test specimen and the AFM tip and for the displacement of the AFM cantilever are not important, but only their relative change is a mater of major concern. However, in the case that the nanoindentation test is performed using the AFM, the quantitative values for the interaction force between the test specimen and the AFM tip and for the displacement of the AFM cantilever are important. Further, the mechanical properties such as elastic modulus and hardness can be obtained using the quantitative values. Since the AFM cantilever 110 according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in Fig. 5 is of a symmetric structure, only the z-axis motion is considered. The depth where the AFM tip causes the test specimen 160 to be deformed, i. e. the indentation depth, is obtained by subtracting the displacement of the AFM cantilever 110 from the z-axis displacement zl of the xyz scanner 150. Further, interaction force between the AFM tip 120 and the test specimen 160, i. e. indentation load, is obtained by multiplying the displacement of the AFM cantilever and a spring constant of the AFM cantilever. Although the indentation depth and load can be obtained through a similar process even in the conventional AFM cantilever, there is a problem in that some compensation for the lateral and rotational motions of the AFM cantilever are required as mentioned above. Since the displacement and load measured commonly in the AFM is very small values such as in nanometer (nm) and nanonewton (nN) unit, error factors that may be included during the compensation process exert a great influence on the measurement of physical properties.

In the meantime, the AFM cantilever 110 shown in Figs. 4 and 5 is configured to be symmetric with respect to a line X-X as well as the line Z-Z and thus to be stable, as shown in Fig. 6. In this case, the mounting position of the mirror 130 on the AFM cantilever 210 is the same as that of the mirror 30 on the conventional AFM cantilever 10 shown in Fig. 1, so that the AFM cantilever 210 of the present invention can be compatible with the conventional AFM cantilever 10. In the meantime, Fig. 7 shows a state where the AFM cantilever 210 of the embodiment of the present invention, which is compatible with the conventional AFM cantilever 10, is mounted on the AFM head.

In this embodiment, the AFM cantilever 210 may be shaped as a symmetric shape with respective to the yz plane such as a cylinder or elliptical cylinder of which cross section is a circle or ellipse, as well as a quadrangular cylinder of which cross section is a quadrangle with respect to the xz plane as shown in Figs. 4 through 7. A three-dimensional shape such as a hollow sphere or three-dimensional ellipse may also be employed.

[Second embodiment] The displacement of the AFM cantilever same as in the aforementioned first embodiment may be measured using laser light. Such a method is widely used in the conventional AFM cantilever, but it causes the structure of the AFM to be complicated.

Further, there is an inconvenience in that the AFM cantilever should be manually manipulated such that the laser light can be incident upon the mirrors 30 and 130 thereof whenever the AFM cantilever 10,110, and 210 are exchanged from the AFM head. In the second embodiment, a displacement sensor 330 capable of measuring the displacement of the AFM cantilever without using the light source and the light receiving element (not shown) is employed in the AFM cantilever 310 shown in Fig. 8.

In the second embodiment, the AFM cantilever 310 uses a circular frame. As shown in Fig. 8, the displacement sensor 330 is mounted in the z-axis direction in the circular AFM cantilever 310 symmetric with respect to the x and z axes, and more specifically, between one end of the AFM cantilever fixed to the fixed stage 140 and the other end on which the AFM tip 120 is mounted. The displacement sensor 330 is a non-contact sensor with sufficient resolution. For example, a capacitance-type sensor or LVDT (Linear Variable Differential Transformer) sensor may be used as the displacement sensor 330. The AFM cantilever 310 can measure the indentation depth by subtracting a displacement value measured by the displacement sensor 330 from a displacement value of the xyz scanner 150. In addition, the indentation load can be obtained by multiplying a displacement value measured from the displacement sensor 330 by a stiffness value of the AFM cantilever 310.

Although the AFM cantilever 310 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is configured to include the circular frame, either a shape shown in Fig. 4 or Fig. 6 or an elliptical shape may be used in this AFM cantilever as described above, and a hollow spherical frame (axisymmetric shape) may also be used in this cantilever. In a case where the axisymmetric spherical frame is used, it can be configured in such a manner that a hemisphere to be attached to the fixed stage 140 and another hemisphere to be attached to the AFM tip are separately manufactured, the capacitance-type sensor is installed therein and the hemispheres are then bonded to each other.

In the present invention including the first and the second embodiments, the AFM cantilever is mounted with the AFM tip or on the fixed stage, and thus, it cannot be geometrically shaped as an exact quadrangular cylinder, circular cylinder, elliptical cylinder, sphere or three-dimensional ellipse. Accordingly, the shapes of the quadrangular cylinder, circular cylinder, elliptical cylinder, sphere or three-dimensional ellipse as used herein cannot mean an exact geometric shape but a general shape as a whole. Further, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the symmetry of the AFM cantilever with respect to the yz plane according to the present invention does not mean the mathematically exact symmetry but the symmetry sufficient to prevent unnecessary x-axis motions from occurring when the AFM cantilever is subjected to the indentation deformation in the z-axis direction.

The present invention makes it possible to measure more exact physical properties of the interaction between the AFM tip and the test specimen by solving the problem from the lateral motion inevitably involved in the conventional AFM cantilever.

The present invention is very advantageous in allowing the AFM to have the nanoindentation testing function and can also be used directly in the measurement for the various surface shapes corresponding to a unique function of the AFM as well as the AFM nano indentation test. Further, the AFM cantilever according to the first embodiment of the present invention can be mounted with replacement of the conventional AFM cantilever in a compatible mode to the conventional AFM equipment, without any modification of the conventional AFM equipment.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention defined by the appended claims. Therefore, simple changes of the embodiments of the present invention will fall within the scope of the invention.