SCL’s low-noise and high bandwidth pre-amplifier is used to amplify a sensitive sensor signal from a self-sensing cantilever to avoid noise pick-up on a long cable transmission or to upscale the signal for further signal analyzing.

The pre-amplifier supplies a Wheatstone bridge on an arbitrary sensor (e.g. a SCL self-sensing cantilever) with a stable and low noise reference voltage. The sensed and amplified signal bridge output signal is wired to a data processing device (e.g. Lock-in amplifier, atomic force microscope controller, oscilloscope, etc.).

The pre-amplifier’s internal reference voltage amounts to 2.048 V. The bridge supply voltage can be changed to an arbitrary external supply voltage by a jumper.

The total gain of the pre-amplifier is set to G=100 with a high bandwidth of 2.5 MHz. An offset voltage in the output signal can be corrected by adding an external DC bias or manually with an onboard potentiometer