

Rectangular AFM cantilevers with various dimensions for specific applications.
(see Interdependence between Geometry and Application)
Typical AFM cantilever mechanical properties ranges:
Triangular AFM cantilevers.
AFM cantilevers with two beams running parallel to each other.
V-shaped AFM cantilever geometry with two identical legs.
Typical triangular AFM cantilever mechanical properties ranges:
AFM cantilevers with a rectangular cross section.
» Browse all AFM probes with rectangular cross section AFM cantileversAFM cantilevers with a trapezoidal cross section and the tip on the narrow flank.
» Browse all AFM probes with trapezoidal cross section AFM cantilevers (tip on narrow flank)AFM cantilevers with a trapezoidal cross section and the tip of the wide flank.
» Browse all AFM probes with trapezoidal cross section AFM cantilevers (tip on wide flank)AFM cantilevers with a trapezoidal cross section with curved sides and the tip on narrow flank.
» Browse all AFM probes with trapezoidal cross section with curved sides AFM cantileversAFM cantilevers made of single crystal silicon.
AFM cantilevers made of silicon nitride.
One AFM cantilever on the support chip.
» Browse all AFM probes with single AFM cantileversTwo identical AFM cantilevers as a small array on one side of the support chip.
» Browse all AFM probes with two AFM cantileversThree different AFM cantilevers on one side of the support chip.
» Browse all standard AFM probes with three AFM cantilevers on one side of the support chip
Arrays of eight identical AFM cantilevers on one side of the support chip.
» Browse all AFM probes with AFM cantilever arraysTwo AFM cantilevers with different characteristics on one each side of the support chip.
» Browse all AFM probes with multiple AFM cantileversAluminum coating on the detector facing side of the AFM cantilevers for enhanced laser reflectance.
Reflectance of an uncoated AFM cantilever vs reflectance of an aluminum coated AFM cantilever:
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Reflectance of an uncoated AFM Cantilever | Reflectance of Aluminum coated AFM Cantilever |
Gold coating on the detector facing side of the AFM cantilevers for enhanced laser reflectance in ambient atmosphere and chemically aggressive environments.
Reflectance of an uncoated AFM cantilever vs reflectance of a gold coated AFM cantilever:
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Reflectance of an uncoated AFM Cantilever | Reflectance of a Gold coated AFM Cantilever |
Gold coating on the top side of the AFM cantilevers.
Gold coating on both sides of the AFM cantilevers.
Platinum coating on both sides of the AFM cantilevers.
Platinum/Iridium coating on both sides of the AFM cantilevers.
High wear resistance and electrically conductive real doped diamond coating on the tip side of the AFM cantilevers.
Silicide coating on both sides of the AFM cantilevers.
» Browse all AFM probes with silicide coated AFM cantilevers
Other coating materials can cover the cantilevers, but as they don't play an active role in the measurement, they haven't been listed above.
There is no common definition on the exact force constant values of stiff (or hard) and soft AFM cantilevers. Our own definition of these terms is the following:
An AFM cantilever with force constant above 40 N/m is referred to as a ‘stiff’ AFM cantilever. Such an AFM cantilever allows maximum scanning speeds in tapping/non-contact mode AFM measurements.
An AFM cantilever with force constant in the range 3-15 N/m is referred to as an ‘intermediately stiff’ AFM cantilever. Such an AFM cantilever is usually preferred for soft intermittent contact mode AFM measurements with reduced tip-sample interaction (5-15 N/m) and for force modulation measurements (3 N/m).
An AFM cantilever with a force constant below 1 N/m is referred to as a ‘soft’ AFM cantilever. Such an AFM cantilever allows high sensitivity contact mode AFM measurements.
For more information on AFM cantilevers, please contact us.
* We are referring to the normal force constant of the AFM cantilever. For more information about the different AFM cantilever force constants, check the next chapter.
The normal resonance frequency (or simply the resonance frequency) f of an AFM cantilever refers to the resonance frequency for small amplitude oscillations in the direction normal to the sample facing surface of the AFM cantilever. This parameter neglects the mass of the tip.
The corrected resonance frequency fcorr of an AFM cantilever takes the AFM tip mass into account. Here, the AFM tip is modeled as a cone with height H and a base diameter H.
The normal force constant (or simply the force constant) C of an AFM cantilever is the ratio of the applied force from the top or the bottom side at the free cantilever end to the free end’s displacement for small displacements (Fig. 1). This force constant is most relevant for determining the tip-sample interaction during the majority of AFM operation modes.
The lateral force constant Clat of an AFM cantilever is the ratio of the applied force from the side at the free end of the AFM cantilever to its displacement for small displacements (Fig. 2).
The torsional force constant Ctor of an AFM cantilever is the ratio of the applied lateral force at the AFM tip to the lateral displacement of the AFM tip for small displacements (Fig. 3).
The calculator below calculates important parameters of silicon AFM cantilevers based on their geometric dimensions.
f [kHz] – resonance frequency of the AFM cantilever (neglecting tip mass)
fcorr [kHz] – resonance frequency of the AFM cantilever taking tip mass into account
C [N/m] – (normal) force constant of the AFM cantilever
Clat [N/m] – lateral force constant of the AFM cantilever
Ctor [N/m] – torsional force constant of the AFM cantilever
T [µm] – AFM cantilever thickness
W [µm] – AFM cantilever width
L [µm] – AFM cantilever length
H [µm] – AFM tip height
ρ = 2.33g/cm3 = 2330kg/m3 - density of silicon
E = 1.69*1011 N/m2 - modulus of elasticity / Young’s modulus in the <110> direction of silicon
G = 0.5*1011 N/m2 modulus of rigidity / modulus of elasticity in shear of silicon
The calculator calculates the resonance frequencies and the force constants according to the following formulas:
Rectangular AFM cantilevers with various dimensions for specific applications.
(see Interdependence between Geometry and Application)
Typical AFM cantilever mechanical properties ranges:
Triangular AFM cantilevers.
AFM cantilevers with two beams running parallel to each other.
V-shaped AFM cantilever geometry with two identical legs.
Typical triangular AFM cantilever mechanical properties ranges:
AFM cantilevers with a rectangular cross section.
» Browse all AFM probes with rectangular cross section AFM cantileversAFM cantilevers with a trapezoidal cross section and the tip on the narrow flank.
» Browse all AFM probes with trapezoidal cross section AFM cantilevers (tip on narrow flank)AFM cantilevers with a trapezoidal cross section and the tip of the wide flank.
» Browse all AFM probes with trapezoidal cross section AFM cantilevers (tip on wide flank)AFM cantilevers with a trapezoidal cross section with curved sides and the tip on narrow flank.
» Browse all AFM probes with trapezoidal cross section with curved sides AFM cantileversAFM cantilevers made of single crystal silicon.
AFM cantilevers made of silicon nitride.
One AFM cantilever on the support chip.
» Browse all AFM probes with single AFM cantileversTwo identical AFM cantilevers as a small array on one side of the support chip.
» Browse all AFM probes with two AFM cantileversThree different AFM cantilevers on one side of the support chip.
» Browse all standard AFM probes with three AFM cantilevers on one side of the support chip
Arrays of eight identical AFM cantilevers on one side of the support chip.
» Browse all AFM probes with AFM cantilever arraysTwo AFM cantilevers with different characteristics on one each side of the support chip.
» Browse all AFM probes with multiple AFM cantileversAluminum coating on the detector facing side of the AFM cantilevers for enhanced laser reflectance.
Reflectance of an uncoated AFM cantilever vs reflectance of an aluminum coated AFM cantilever:
![]() |
![]() |
Reflectance of an uncoated AFM Cantilever | Reflectance of Aluminum coated AFM Cantilever |
Gold coating on the detector facing side of the AFM cantilevers for enhanced laser reflectance in ambient atmosphere and chemically aggressive environments.
Reflectance of an uncoated AFM cantilever vs reflectance of a gold coated AFM cantilever:
![]() |
![]() |
Reflectance of an uncoated AFM Cantilever | Reflectance of a Gold coated AFM Cantilever |
Gold coating on the top side of the AFM cantilevers.
Gold coating on both sides of the AFM cantilevers.
Platinum coating on both sides of the AFM cantilevers.
Platinum/Iridium coating on both sides of the AFM cantilevers.
High wear resistance and electrically conductive real doped diamond coating on the tip side of the AFM cantilevers.
Silicide coating on both sides of the AFM cantilevers.
» Browse all AFM probes with silicide coated AFM cantilevers
Other coating materials can cover the cantilevers, but as they don't play an active role in the measurement, they haven't been listed above.
There is no common definition on the exact force constant values of stiff (or hard) and soft AFM cantilevers. Our own definition of these terms is the following:
An AFM cantilever with force constant above 40 N/m is referred to as a ‘stiff’ AFM cantilever. Such an AFM cantilever allows maximum scanning speeds in tapping/non-contact mode AFM measurements.
An AFM cantilever with force constant in the range 3-15 N/m is referred to as an ‘intermediately stiff’ AFM cantilever. Such an AFM cantilever is usually preferred for soft intermittent contact mode AFM measurements with reduced tip-sample interaction (5-15 N/m) and for force modulation measurements (3 N/m).
An AFM cantilever with a force constant below 1 N/m is referred to as a ‘soft’ AFM cantilever. Such an AFM cantilever allows high sensitivity contact mode AFM measurements.
For more information on AFM cantilevers, please contact us.
* We are referring to the normal force constant of the AFM cantilever. For more information about the different AFM cantilever force constants, check the next chapter.
The normal resonance frequency (or simply the resonance frequency) f of an AFM cantilever refers to the resonance frequency for small amplitude oscillations in the direction normal to the sample facing surface of the AFM cantilever. This parameter neglects the mass of the tip.
The corrected resonance frequency fcorr of an AFM cantilever takes the AFM tip mass into account. Here, the AFM tip is modeled as a cone with height H and a base diameter H.
The normal force constant (or simply the force constant) C of an AFM cantilever is the ratio of the applied force from the top or the bottom side at the free cantilever end to the free end’s displacement for small displacements (Fig. 1). This force constant is most relevant for determining the tip-sample interaction during the majority of AFM operation modes.
The lateral force constant Clat of an AFM cantilever is the ratio of the applied force from the side at the free end of the AFM cantilever to its displacement for small displacements (Fig. 2).
The torsional force constant Ctor of an AFM cantilever is the ratio of the applied lateral force at the AFM tip to the lateral displacement of the AFM tip for small displacements (Fig. 3).
The calculator below calculates important parameters of silicon AFM cantilevers based on their geometric dimensions.
f [kHz] – resonance frequency of the AFM cantilever (neglecting tip mass)
fcorr [kHz] – resonance frequency of the AFM cantilever taking tip mass into account
C [N/m] – (normal) force constant of the AFM cantilever
Clat [N/m] – lateral force constant of the AFM cantilever
Ctor [N/m] – torsional force constant of the AFM cantilever
T [µm] – AFM cantilever thickness
W [µm] – AFM cantilever width
L [µm] – AFM cantilever length
H [µm] – AFM tip height
ρ = 2.33g/cm3 = 2330kg/m3 - density of silicon
E = 1.69*1011 N/m2 - modulus of elasticity / Young’s modulus in the <110> direction of silicon
G = 0.5*1011 N/m2 modulus of rigidity / modulus of elasticity in shear of silicon
The calculator calculates the resonance frequencies and the force constants according to the following formulas: