Study of sensitivity and noise in the piezoelectric self-sensing and self-actuating cantilever with an integrated Wheatstone bridge circuit

A detection method using a self-sensing cantilever is more desirable than other detection methods (optical fiber and laser beam bounce detection) that are bulky and require alignment. The advantage of the self-sensing cantilever is its simplicity, particularly its simple structure. It can be used for the construction of an atomic force microscopy system with a vacuum, fluids, and a low temperature chamber. Additionally, the self-actuating cantilever can be used for a high speed scanning system because the bandwidth is larger than the bulk scanner. Frequently, ZnO film has been used as an actuator in a self-actuating cantilever. In this paper, we studied the characteristics of the self-sensing and self-actuating cantilever with an integrated Wheatstone bridge circuit substituting the ZnO film with a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) film as the actuator. We can reduce the leakage current (to less than 10−4 A/cm2) in the PZT cantilever and improve sensor sensitivity through a reduction of noise level from the e...