Characterization of microcantilever spring and force sensor using nanomanipulators

In this paper the authors present the development of a characterization process for microcantilever based spring and force sensor wherein fusion of real-time vision and force feedback is used. The process applies a very small force in micronewtons using MM3A nanomanipulators and senses the corresponding deflection using vision feedback, which produces direct characterization of microcantilever for evaluating its effective spring constant. The same process has been applied to find sensitivity of a microcantilever based force sensor. In the process force feedback values are viewed on a digital storage oscilloscope and once calibrated it is directly proportional to the applied force. By having known deflections (x) on images and known values of force (F) sensed by a force feedback sensor, the spring constant of microcantilever has been found as K = 8.75 μN/μm. Using the same procedure a microcantilever based force sensor has been characterized, the resulting sensitivity of force sensor has been found as 34.35 mV/μN.