Improved method for atomic force microscope cantilever calibration

The development of an improved method for calibrating AFM cantilevers is presented, based on the Cleveland method. A masking technique is used to deposit gold on the very end of the cantilever, and the shift in resonant frequency with added mass is used to calculate the spring constant. A novel and unique application of scanning Raman microscopy was developed to measure the thickness distribution of the deposited gold film over the cantilever. The uncertainty in the spring constant of cantilevers calibrated using this method was determined to be ~10%, and in good agreement with established calibration methods in literature