Nano analytik GmbH was founded in 2010 in Ilmenau, Germany, and has since become one of the recognized brands in the self-sensing and self-actuating probes (or so-called active cantilevers) based AFM market today. Nano analytik GmbH develops and manufactures AFMs and has grown to be a worldwide company with sales, service, and support operations in the EU, Asia, Australia, and the US. The central part of every conventional atomic force microscope is a probe, which is a micromachined cantilever with a sharp tip at the free end. The cantilever is mounted to a scanning system for scanning the surface of a probe. As the tip interacts with the surface of the sample, the cantilever deflects and the deflection is measured optically by measuring position changes in laser beam light reflected from the cantilever and it is used to disclose information about the sample surface. This technique has been called “optical beam deflection” (OBD). Nano analytik GmbH has engrossed and standardized the use of active cantilevers as a successful and ultimate replacement of conventional OBD solutions without sacrificing the performance of the AFM. These cantilevers are used as tip-scanning AFMs, where the probe is moved and the sample remains motionless. In this case, the AFM has no limits with respect to the size and mass of the sample. In this manner, nano analytik GmbH has contributed towards simplifying the AFM and manufacturing ultimately easy-to-use AFMs with outstanding price-to-value ratios. Nano analytik GmbH has achieved an enormous acquaintance in scanning probe microscopy, capable of developing tailored customer-specified systems operating in vacuum, air, or liquid with the highest level of flexibility and usability.
