*Shinji Watanabe, Toshio Ando,
High-speed XYZ-nanopositioner for scanning ion conductance microscopy,
Applied Physics Letters 111, 113606/1-4 (2017).
[Summary] We describe a tip-scan-type high-speed XYZ-nanopositioner designed for scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM), with a special care being devoted to the way of nanopipette holding. The nanopipette probe is mounted in the center of a hollow piezoactuator, both ends of which are attached to identical diaphragm flexures, for Z-positioning. This design minimizes the generation of undesirable mechanical vibrations. Mechanical amplification is used to increase the XY-travel range of the nanopositioner. The first resonance frequencies of the nanopositioner are measured as ~100kHz and ~2.3kHz for the Z- and XY-displacements, respectively. The travel ranges are ~6um and ~34lm for Z and XY, respectively. When this nanopositioner is used for hoppingmode imaging of SICM with a ~10-nm radius tip, the vertical tip velocity can be increased to 400nm/ms; hence, the one-pixel acquisition time can be minimized to ~1ms.