Flexural vibration of an atomic force microscope cantilever based on modified couple stress theory

This paper is concerned with the flexural vibration of an atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever. The cantilever problem is formulated on the basis of the modified couple stress theory and the Timoshenko beam theory. The modified couple stress theory is a nonclassical continuum theory that includes one additional material parameter to describe the size effect. By using the Hamilton's principle, the governing equation of motion and the boundary conditions are derived for the AFM cantilevers. The equation is solved using the differential quadrature method for the natural frequencies and mode shapes. The effects of the sample surface contact stiffness, length scale parameter and location of the sensor tip on the flexural vibration characteristics of AFM cantilevers are discussed. Results show that the size effect on the frequency is significant when the thickness of the microcantilever has a similar value to the material length scale parameter.