Fig. 1
From: Application of atomic force microscopy in cancer research
Schematic diagram of AFM working principles. The AFM instrument is composed of a piezoelectric ceramic tube, a laser generator, a position-sensitive photodiode detector, a controller, and an AFM probe. The AFM probe is a micro-cantilever with a sharp tip attached at its end. The tip, which has a monomolecular point, allows for nanometer resolution imaging and the micro-cantilever is a force sensor that can detect even minute deformation of a sample, enabling very high sensitivity AFM in force measurements