A Mini Review of the Key Components used for the Development of High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy

Dynamic phenomena on nanoscale have continuously attracted attention from various research fields. However, due to the limit of the imaging rate, it is difficult to observe the dynamic processes by conventional atomic force microscope (AFM). In recent years, a considerable variety of important improvements on the AFM system for high-speed imaging have been proposed and demonstrated. In this mini review, we briefly present the latest research works on the development of high-speed AFM (HSAFM) from the view of instrumentation. Besides commercially available instruments, many schemes for the design and construction of HSAFM system for different applications are summarized. Also, the low-cost hardware and software upgrading options from conventional AFM to HSAFM are compared. Furthermore, the requirements for each component in the AFM control loop are analyzed. Finally, challenges and future works of HSAFM are discussed. This review would be beneficial for the development of new HSAFM imaging systems.