By Peter Weiss
Although the atomic-force microscope is a workhorse for nanoscale measurements and manipulations, it’s neither the fastest nor the most informative of instruments. Used widely in biological and materials research, as well as in microelectronics manufacturing and other industries, the instrument provides minute topographical details of a sample but not much else.
A team of engineers has now unveiled a radically revised version of the device. The inventors claim that it operates 100 times as fast as its conventional cousins do, raising the prospect that now-rare videos of molecular interactions could become routine. What’s more, as the new instrument examines the topography of an object, it can simultaneously measure other properties, such elasticity, stiffness, and stickiness, the scientists report.