In a Veeco dimension 3100 operated in tapping mode, the cantilever does not tune using autotune function. It says drive amplitude exceeding safe limit due to broken or misaligned cantilever. However the cantilever does not seem to be broken and the alignment is ok. What else could be the problem?
There are few common reasons of such problem:
1. Incorrect laser alignment - the spot isn't on a cantilever, it can be on the edge of the chip.
2. Bad mechanical contact between the chip and the holder.
3. "Semi-destroyed" cantilever (it's very rare event) - cantilever looks as good, but there are some damages.
4. Incorrect parameters.
5. A problem with electronics.
Just replace the cantilever and try again.
Good luck!
I do agree with the previous contribution - it is mostly due to the fact that the probe is not well mounted in the probe holder. The probe may appear to be well mounted but in fact the mechanical coupling between the clip/probe holder and the probe is not quite strong enough to transfer the oscillation of the Z-piezo onto the probe, then onto the cantilever. This acts as a damping mechanism and that is why the drive amplitude is ramping up and up to try to compensate the energy loss due to this bad coupling so that you may still reach the target amplitude.
long explanation but a simple solution : take the probe out and remount it. I usually tell my students not to exceed 500mV Drive amplitude and we can go as low as 20mV.
Hope that works
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