The ultimate tool for nanoscale research from biological molecules to advanced new materials.
The versatile mid-range research AFM that grows with your demands in modes and accessories.
A compact affordable research AFM that is astoundingly easy to use, with more than 30 modes and options.
Measure roughness and other material properties of heavy and large samples up to 300 mm and 45 kg.
Bringing the power of DriveAFM to a wafer metrology system purpose-built for the requirements of the semiconductor industry.
For unique requirements, we will design a bespoke AFM solution, leveraging our decades of engineering expertise.
Slide an AFM onto your upright optical microscope turret for a leap in resolution.
One of the smallest ever AFMs, created for integration into custom stages or existing setups.
A flexibly mountable research-grade scan head for integration into custom stages or existing set ups.
What is atomic force microscopy (AFM)? How does AFM work? What AFM modes do I really need? How do I get started with AFM?
Learn how AFM works with cantilever/tip assembly interacting with the sample. Explore CleanDrive technology, calibration methods, and feedback principles for precise nanoscale imaging.
An overview of common AFM modes. To learn about each mode in more detail and see application, view the full article.
We regularly publish detailed reviews providing practical guidance and theoretical background on various AFM applications.
Read detailed technical descriptions about selected AFM techniques and learn how to perform specific measurements on Nanosurf instruments.
A library of links to research papers in which Nanosurf instruments were used.
Learn AFM from our library of recorded webinars, covering different measurement techniques, modes, and areas of application.
Short video clips explaining how to perform different operations on Nanosurf instruments.
Watch a product demonstration to learn about the capabilities of our AFMs.
Watch the 8-session short course to get a strong fundamental understanding of AFM.
Browse news articles, press releases and a variety of other articles all around Nanosurf.
Browse Héctor Corte-Léon's weekly experiments, for inspiration, entertainment, and to discover everyday applications of AFM.
All over natural sciences and engineering mass is being measured to characterize and design a large variety of high performance systems. Yet there existed an instrumentational void for weighing microscopically sized systems such as single cells or colloidal microparticles. Motivated by this problem and driven by innovation, Nanosurf now offers a unique solution that allows nanotechnological measurements of a new dimension: the PicoBalance. Whether as a stand-alone instrument or as an add-on to the DriveAFM, the PicoBalance enables users to noninvasively measure microscopic biological or material science systems reaching sub-picogram and millisecond resolution.
Speak to an Expert* as measured with an NSC35
Mass induced frequency shift as seen in the amplitude response of the cantilever.
Mass determination with the PicoBalance is based on the measurement of the frequency shift that is induced by attaching the sample to the mass sensor, the cantilever. One area of application is the static size and mass characterization of colloidal systems, and their dynamic swelling properties in solvents. The combination with the FluidFM technology is of particular advantage – it allows fast and reversible attachment of the systems or the research of droplet-liquid interactions. Nanosurf has refined the mass measurement workflow and supplemented it with automatic procedures for preparing and executing the measurement.
Differently sized colloids attached to a Fluid-FM cantilever for mass measurement.
Image width: 220 µm.
Mass increase of paraffin bubble over time at an applied pressure of 700 mbar.
Measured vs expected bead masses. A straight line of slope 1 indicates the expected behaviour for an accurate, linear measurement.
The PicoBalance also reveals new perspective on cellular systems found in fundamental, biotechnological and pharmacological research. Cells of varying sizes can be hosted on the cantilever, made to adhere by physiologically relevant substrates such as collagen, fibronectin, laminin etc. Researching the cell growth behaviour or the influence of chemicals on the cellular proliferation or function. The PicoBalance unlocks new applications in cell nutrition, mass regulation, disease related processes, and drug screening. The compatibility with transmitted light and fluorescence microscopy allows the correlation of mass measurements with cell morphology or cell state. All measurements can be performed under physiological conditions.
-and-H2B-(green)-labelled-HeLa-kyoto-cell-on-a-NSC25-cantilever-during-a-long-term-measurement%20(2).png "Actin-(red)-and-H2B-(green)-labelled-HeLa-kyoto-cell-on-a-NSC25-cantilever-during-a-long-term-measurement (2)")
Actin (red) and H2B (green) labelled HeLa kyoto cell on a NSC25 cantilever during a long-term measurement.
Image width: 110 µm
Budding yeast proliferating on a cantilever. Fluorescent markers indicate the stage of the cell cycle.
Cantilever width: 16 µm
Image courtesy: Computational systems biology group, ETH, Zurich.
Budding yeast cell shows segments of different growth rates.
Scale bar: 10 µm
A.P. Cuny et al. (2022), DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30781-y
Contact with a virus infected BSC40 cell to infect a HeLa CLL-2 cell on the cantilever prior to mass measurement.
Image width: 120 µm
Image courtesy: Biophysics group, ETH, Zurich.
Healthy cell accumulates mass, meanwhile the other cell has stopped growing as a result of its infection with a smallpox virus.
Martínez-Martín et
al., Nature (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nature24288
Fibroblast nucleus mass measurement on a FluidFM cantilever.
Image width: 190 µm
The PicoBalance and its underlying technology has been subject to several publications in leading journals:
Reach out to us to discuss your application with one of our seasoned AFM experts, to get a budgetary quote or schedule a product demonstration or exploratory meeting.
