High-speed Atomic Force Microscope Technology: A Review

The atomic force microscope (AFM) is widely used in many fields such as biology, materials, and physics due to its advantages of simple sample preparation, high-resolution topography measurement and wide range of applications. However, the low scanning speed of traditional AFM limits its dynamics process monitoring and other further application. Therefore, the improvement of AFM scanning speed has become more and more important. In this review, the working principle of AFM is first proposed. Then, we introduce the improvements of cantilever, drive mechanism, and control method of the high-speed atomic force microscope (HS-AFM). Finally, we provide the next developments of HS-AFM.