Introducing the Cypher™ AFM
The World's Highest Resolution AFM

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Decode the Nanoworld with the Next Generation of AFM

You’ve been expecting something genuinely new from the AFM/SPM industry, but for many years you’ve only seen tweaks to old technology. Now Asylum Research introduces the Cypher™ AFM, the first totally new small sample AFM/SPM in over a decade. More capability, more control, more functionality, more modularity, and more resolution – all with striking ease of use.

Closed loop atomic resolution using sensors in all three axes ensures the highest resolution and most accurate images possible today.

With the Cypher AFM, you no longer have to choose between the accuracy and control of closed loop and the low noise of open loop. Asylum’s third generation NanoPositioning System (NPS™) sensors are the quietest in the world today.

With positioning accuracies better than 60 picometers in X, Y and Z, you not only achieve atomic resolution in closed loop, you also get the most accurate measurements, positioning and nanomanipulation possible.

Closed loop STM showing graphite atoms, 6nm scan.

SpotOn Alignment Just click on the desired spot location and the motorized stages automatically align the laser spot. The photodiode signals are also automatically centered.

Laser spot sizes as small as 3µm enable high-speed AC imaging with small cantilevers. Cypher provides the industry’s smallest spot size, allowing you to use cantilevers smaller than 10µm for fast imaging and sub-picoNewton force measurements.

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Small Cantilevers provide much higher resonant frequencies than conventional cantilevers without an increase in stiffness.

Designed from the Ground Up
for Superior System-Wide Performance

Cypher’s proprietary system-level mechanical design is inherently immune to normal environmental vibration, eliminating the need for additional isolation add-ons for most labs. The integrated system enclosure includes thermal control and provides additional acoustic isolation for noisy environments.

This system-level design creates images of atomically flat samples that are free of periodic noise. Cypher also features unimpeded 180 degree optical/mechanical access to your samples and a small 40x42cm footprint that conserves lab space.

MultiLux Optics The focused spot size can easily be changed to fit the size of the cantilever being used. Here, two different spot sizes are shown on two different cantilevers. The small spot has dimensions of 3x9µm.

Diffraction-limited Optics 3.1 megapixel top view image shows AFM calibration grating (20µm pitch) with inset of 8X digital zoom.

The World’s Highest Resolution AFM

With the Cypher AFM, you can do things that are simply not possible with other AFMs. Here are some examples of how the Cypher AFM can help you decode the nanoworld.

Closed loop image of domains of surfactant hemi-micelles surrounding a defect on graphite, 200nm scan.

Closed loop Dual AC Mode image of collagen. Second mode amplitude is overlaid on topography, 300nm scan.

Closed loop image of surface potential overlaid on topography of a biased electrode. Voltage drop ~1V, 20µm scan.

Closed loop image of Lambda digest DNA imaged in buffer, 530nm scan.

Closed loop image of cytoplasmic face of bacteriorhodopsin in buffer, 50nm scan.

Closed loop image of cleavage defects on graphite surface, 1.7µm scan.

Stretching of DNA molecule showing B-S transition and mechanical melting.

Scanning Modes

Standard

• Contact: Uses feedback on deflection. Height, deflection, and lateral force (LFM) signals available.
• AC: Uses feedback on amplitude. Signals available include height, amplitude/phase, I/Q, deflection, lateral; digital Q-control included.
• Force: Force curve acquisition and mapping in contact or AC mode. Triggering/feedback allow for a wide variety of force curve modes.
• Dual AC™: Provides multiple frequency drives and analyses for bimodal and harmonic measurements and imaging.
• Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM): Enables high sensitivity, high bias and cross-talk free measurements of piezo materials.
• Electric Force Microscopy (EFM)
• Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM)
• Surface Potential
• Nanolithography
• Nanomanipulation
• Frequency Modulation (FM)
• Operation in fluid

Optional

• Conductive AFM with ORCA™ Module: Provides low-current measurements at constant applied voltage for electrical characterization.
• STM with ORCA Module
• iDrive™ magnetic actuated drive for imaging of soft samples in fluid.
• Band Excitation for measurement of materials properties.

Unbreakable Nanocode?
Crack It with the Cypher AFM and the Asylum Research Team

You need the new Cypher AFM to make tomorrow’s discoveries and to keep your facility first in science. With capabilities far beyond those of older SPMs – and modularity and expandability for the future – the Cypher AFM can help you be a leader in decoding the nanoworld.

The Asylum Research team will support you every step of the way.

Asylum’s legendary product and applications support ensures you get up and running quickly and achieve optimum results. Asylum is the clear leader in customer satisfaction. If you’re not already an Asylum user, just ask one (or ask us for a reference).

And Asylum’s Six-Month Money-Back Guarantee ensures your satisfaction. Our quality and support are unrivaled – but just in case, you’re covered.

Seek Asylum for the Most Advanced AFM/SPM Technology and Tools

Choose the Cypher AFM for:

• Closed loop imaging from tens of microns down to atomic scales
• Small cantilevers for high-speed scanning
• High-speed, low-noise force measurements
• High-bandwidth data acquisition
• Diffraction-limited optical sample viewing/imaging
• Automated laser alignment

Choose MFP-3D™ AFM for:

• Large closed loop scan area
• Compatibility with inverted optical microscopes
• Sample viewing from top and bottom
• Long-range, low-noise force measurements
• Widest range of accessories
• Flexible mounting for various sample shapes and sizes
• Quantitative nanoindentation

Specifications

Head/Optical Lever

• Deflection Noise*: <20pm
• Bandwidth: DC to 7MHz standard
• Light Source: User selectable/exchangeable. Options include superluminescent diodes and laser diodes. Wavelength is fixed at 850nm.
• Spot Size: User selectable/exchangeable. Focused spots range in size from 10x30µm down to 3x9µm.
• Controls: Focused spot positioning and photodiode centering controls are motorized and fully controllable from the software.

*Noise measurements are quoted as average deviation (Adev) in a 0.1Hz to 1kHz bandwidth.

Scanner

A variety of scanner modules are available depending on application. All scanner modules include XYZ actuation as well as a motorized cantilever engage stage. The standard scanner module specs are listed below:

• Scan Range: XY range is 30/40µm (closed/open loop). Z range is 5/7µm (closed/open loop).
• NPS™ Sensor Noise*: Digital LVDT sensors. XY noise is <60pm. Z noise is <50pm. Closed loop scan performance achieves lattice resolution (<10nm scans) with feedback gains equivalent to large scan (>1µm) values.
• Vibration Immunity*: <10pm coupling into deflection for 1mm/s² floor acceleration.
• XY Sample Drift: <20/150nm/°C (with/without temperature control module).
• Out-of-Plane Motion: Tilt is <10nm per micron of travel. Bow is <10nm over full scan range.
• Sample Dimensions: 15/7mm (diameter/thickness).
• Sample Environment: Standard environments are ambient, droplet, or low evaporation/perfusion chamber.

*Noise measurements are quoted as average deviation (Adev) in a 0.1Hz to 1kHz bandwidth.

View Module

A variety of view modules providing top-down optical view of the sample/cantilever are possible depending on the application. The standard view module specifications are listed below:

• Configuration: Bright field/reflected light
• Illumination: LED based Köhler illumination with manual controls for the aperture and field diaphragms. Intensity is software controlled.
• Resolution: Diffraction limited performance (<1µm) with apochromatic correction. NA = 0.45
• Field of View: 690x920µm
• Camera: 3.1 megapixel CMOS camera with FireWire interface. Digital zoom/pan/capture; software controlled white balance, shutter speed, and binning.
  

Electronics

• ADCs
  - Two 16-bit, 80MHz
  - One 16-bit, 5MHz
  - Six 18-bit, 2MHz
  - Five 16-bit, 100kHz
• Capture Buffer
  - 512MB
• DACs
  - Four 16-bit, 40MHz
  - One 16-bit, 10MHz
  - Four 24-bit, 1.25MHz
  - One 24-bit, 400kHz
  - Five 24-bit, 100kHz
• Firmware Devices
  - Firmware upgradable devices that run real-time SPM specific operations. Modules included are: lock-in amplifiers, Q-control, IIR filters, and feedback loops.
• FPGAs
  - Four Field Programmable Gate Arrays running at up to 667MHz.
• Processors
  - Floating point DSP running at 80MHz
  - Dual-core NIOS in FPGA
• Dual-Frequency Digital Lock-in Amplifiers
  - Two dual-frequency quadrature lock-ins, 20MHz
  - One dual-frequency quadrature lock-in, 5MHz
• Frequency Synthesizer
  - Two dual-frequency synthesizers output at 40MHz. Frequency range DC to 15MHz in 9mHz steps.
  - One dual-frequency synthesizer output at 10MHz. Frequency range DC to 2MHz in 2mHz steps.
  
• Dual Quadrature Outputs
  - R_1,2/ϑ_1,2 (amplitude/phase)
  - I_1,2/Q_1,2 (Rcosϑ/Rsinϑ) for each lock-in
• Digital Q-control
  - 2kHz – 20MHz
• Feedback loops
  - Multiple proportional-integral gain controllers and more advanced controllers (such as H_∞). At a minimum there are:
  --Six loops running at 100kHz
  --Ten loops running at 2MHz
• IIR Filters
  - Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filters running at 2MHz and 100kHz. There are four types of software controllable IIR filters (DC to 50kHz): low pass, high pass, band pass, and band stop.
• CrossPoint Switches
  - One 32 by 32 digitally controlled switch
  - One 16 by 16 digitally controlled switch
• Power Supplies
  - Low voltage: +15, +7, 3.3V
  - High voltage: 150V
  - Optional: +150V for PFM
• Software Controlled Relays
  - XY high voltage
  - Z high voltage
  - Laser power
• USB Computer to Controller Communication
  - Compatible with most computers running XP (including laptops)

Data Acquisition

Data size is limited only by the memory on the PC (10 million point and 8k x 8k images are possible). Additionally, a continuously running circular fast capture buffer allows high speed data to be sent to the computer at any time.

Computer

Minimum: Dell Precision T3400 mini-tower, 2.40GHz Quad Core, 2GB RAM, 160GB SATA RAID hard drive, 16x DVD writer, dual 20” LCD panels (30” optional), 525W supply, Windows XP Pro.

Software

The software is based in IGOR Pro by WaveMetrics, a powerful scientific data acquisition and analysis environment. The software is user programmable.

Features include:

• Nonlinear curve fitting to arbitrary user-defined functions.
• Extensive image analysis including 2D FFTs, wavelet transformations, convolutions, line profiles, particle analysis, edge detection (eight methods, including Sobel), and thresholding (five methods, including fuzzy entropy).
• Automatic spectral fitting and calibration of cantilever spring constants using thermal noise and Sader method.
• Easy generation of scientific publication quality graphs and page layouts.
  

ARgyle™: OpenGL® 3D rendering technology for advanced image display.

• Generate, display, and visualize 3D images in real-time while scanning or doing off-line processing.
• Overlay alternate channel data with primary to view feature correlation.
• Independent scaling of axes for true 1:1 aspect ratio.
• Mouse-driven rotating, panning, scaling, and lighting control of images.
• Export 3D images to clipboard, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG.
• Stereo anaglyph creation from 3D images.
  

Instrument Isolation

• Vibration: Included passive vibration isolation with f_o=7Hz, Q~1. The Cypher AFM exhibits exceptional vibration immunity for high resolution work in labs with floor accelerations > 1mm/s². Additional isolation may be needed for unusually noisy environments.
• Acoustic: Included acoustic enclosure provides 20dB of isolation.
• Temperature: Included enclosure allows for 0.1°C temperature stabilization with optional temperature control module.

User Testimonials

Andras Kis, EPFL Switzerland

"Cypher is by far the best, most stable and most configurable AFM I have ever used"

Bryan Huey, University of Connecticut

"Our new Cypher system is exceptional in terms of performance, automation, imaging speed and ease of use. I'm already recommending Cypher to my AFM colleagues."