AFM Nanœye – Development of an education oriented high resolution profilometer

Abstract Currently, more and more organizations are aware of the increasing potential of nanoscience and nanotechnology, due to the wide field of innovative applications they address from biomedical and molecular technology to semiconductor and material sciences. Nanotechnology is an area where fundamental or applicative research is still in progress and where many industrial applications are waited to come. Despite the progress of this field, many institutions, notably educational ones, cannot afford investing in these technologies allowing an access to nanoscale, and a lack of knowledge therefore remains. The Nanœye project focuses on the widespread of Atomic Force Microscopy or AFM technology, which is the basic access tool to the nanoscale. The main goal is to design an optimal AFM model in terms of manufacturing costs by using rapid prototyping techniques and open-source hardware, and designing it as an educational-oriented equipment. This approach is two-fold: as an AFM-unexperienced user discovering its principle of operation at nanoscale or as a future engineer understanding its multi-disciplinary structure involving mechanics, optics, electronics, software and control sciences. This paper introduces the first functional structure of Nanœye AFM project, focusing on its mechanical structure. It is submitted to the IFAC2017 special feature Automatic Control Demonstrators.