Vibration analysis of AFM microcantilevers using an equivalent stiffness element model

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is powerful tool for determining properties of samples based on interactions between the sample surface and an approaching probe tip. In this study, we modeled the interactions between the sample and the tip of the AFM microcantilever as a single nonlinear spring with an equivalent stiffness element and simulated the dynamic behaviors of the AFM microcantilevers using the finite element method (FEM) and ANSYS software. With the simulation results, we analyzed the complex dynamic responses of the AFM cantilever using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD). In addition, we compared the simulation and experimental results using the same method. Consequently, we suggest an effective method to express the interaction between the tip and sample, and we confirm that the influence of the higher order model due to the interaction between the tip and sample is increased.