Exploring material properties by employing and modelling of microcantilevers

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Microcantilevers are used as sensors in atomic force microscopy (AFM) to determine the topography of surfaces as well as to measure properties such as adhesion, stiffness, or charge density, to name a few. Micro- and nanocantilevers are also increasingly employed as freestanding sensors to detect tiny amounts of masses or to determine the density and viscosity of small fluid volumes.If data based on such cantilevers is interpreted it is almost always assumed that the cantilevers show ideal behaviour, i.e., that they can be described as an object with perfect geometric shape and that their material properties are accurately known. Measurements with real cantilevers, however, do show some deviation from this ideal behaviour, for example due to non-perfect dimensions and a geometric shape that deviates from the ideal one. This can lead to errors when interpreting the data and has an influence on the results obtained.In this project we will use cantilevers for AFM measurements to explore material properties and to model what effect deviations from ideal cantilever behavior can have on the results. In addition, we plan to explore via simulations if cantilevers of geometric shapes that are different to those currently available might have advantages in being more sensitive to probing certain properties.