Print your atomic force microscope.

Progress in scanning probe microscopy profited from a flourishing multitude of new instrument designs, which lead to novel imaging modes and as a consequence to innovative microscopes. Often these designs were hampered by the restrictions, which conventional milling techniques impose. Modern rapid prototyping techniques, where layer by layer is added to the growing piece either by light driven polymerization or by three-dimensional printing techniques, overcome this constraint, allowing highly concave or even embedded and entangled structures. We have employed such a technique to manufacture an atomic force microscopy (AFM) head, and we compared its performance with a copy milled from aluminum. We tested both AFM heads for single molecule force spectroscopy applications and found little to no difference in the signal-to-noise ratio as well as in the thermal drift. The lower E modulus seems to be compensated by higher damping making this material well suited for low noise and low drift applications. Printing an AFM thus offers unparalleled freedom in the design and the rapid production of application-tailored custom instruments. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.