Cantilever having sensor system for independent measurement of force and torque

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It has now been discovered, that improved operation and capabilities of a cantilever measuring device can be achieved through the separate measurement of force and torque contributions to the deflection of the cantilever.
Using recent technological improvements in the processing of semiconducting and ferromagnetic materials (Si & Fe), a new type of cantilever sensor with active detectors has been fabricated, which enables the separation of the measurement of the force and torque contributions to the deflection of the cantilever.
The active detectors provide an order of magnitude more sensitive than the above described capacitance cantilever sensor.
These new sensors utilize the strain dependence in the characteristics of Field Effect Transistors (FETs) placed on the surface of the cantilevers.
The FETs have thus been integrated into the cantilever sensor and this has enabled the deflection induced signals to become amplified at the very point of origin.
It has also enabled the use of the sensors in environments where low power dissipation is necessary.
These sensors are useful in scanning probe magnetic force microscopy MFM), magnetic resonance force microscopy, force and/or torque magnetometry, in reading of all types of magnetic information, including those on disk drives and agglomerates of magnetic molecules and atoms.
The use of the new integrated FET sensors, in addition to increasing the sensitivity, has simplified many of the measurement processes by eliminating the number of external components needed.
Furthermore, the technology we have developed is modular in nature and several sensor models scaleable for smaller/larger signals have been built.
The present invention is a cantilever arm with a detector (passive or active) at the fixed (base) end of the cantilever and a second similar detector at the free end for use in separating the force and torque contributions to the deflection of the cantilever.
Deflection of the free end of the cantilever by a force produces a strain in the base of the cantilever and the deflection of the free end by a torque produces no strain in the base but produces maximum strain at the free end