Strømlingo DIY AFM, a nanometre-resolution atomic force microscope for under €5,000 (€2,999). Built on an open framework with CD/DVD and Blu-ray (coming soon) optical pickup units, it is bought by 29 institutions and has been used in 72 papers.
Nanometre-scale surface imaging from €2,999, built around an ingenious optical architecture and shipped worldwide.
€2,999 for the base instrument. VAT and shipping are not included. Standard lead time is approximately 20 working days after payment confirmation.
Base instrument, excluding VAT and shipping.
Best reported vertical resolution of the base instrument.
Published papers report results measured using a DIY AFM.
Selected as one of 25 Best Practices from 2,492 co-creation challenges registered in the TEAM EXPO 2025 program, the only one from Denmark.
Real output
These are not illustrations. Every frame below came off a Strømlingo DIY AFM.
Real images captured with a Strømlingo DIY AFM: DVD RW and Blu-ray data tracks, paint, polished iron, healthy and diseased skin, mouse and pig skin, collagen, and hair. The widest frame is 20 µm across — a human hair is nearly four times wider.
The architecture
An atomic force microscope moves a very fine tip across a surface and measures how the tip rises and falls. The tip has never been the hard part. Detecting a deflection of a few nanometres is, and that normally means optics and actuators machined to order.
CD/DVD and Blu-ray (coming soon) optical pickup units already contain that combination: lasers, diffraction-limited optics, a high-bandwidth detector and nano-resolution actuators, manufactured at enormous scale for consumer drives. Strømlinet Nano designs the microscope around this existing optical technology.
That is where the price comes from. Not a cheaper microscope. A different supply chain.
“A feat of ingenuity and technical skill bordering on the improbable.”
nanotechweb review, IOP Publishing
In use
Two minutes on what the instrument is for and what it produces. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play.
The instrument
The Strømlingo DIY AFM ships as a base instrument with an Arduino controller and an open framework with open Arduino code supplied with purchase, a user manual and calibration videos.
The scanning head, the Arduino-based controller and a single USB connection to a laptop. The Arduino controller is the official standard version.
Full specification →Manuals and calibration videos are included, covering laser focus, scanning and XY scanner calibration step by step.
Watch the walkthroughs →An optional upgrade path that customers carry out themselves, using an openly published design. Not included in the base price.
About the upgrade →Explore hands-on laboratory activities in optics, feedback, scanning, calibration and data analysis with the Strømlingo DIY AFM.
AFM for university teachingTrack record
The DIY AFM began as a summer-school project in 2013 and has since been through school classrooms, university teaching labs and research groups on six continents.
Publications
The Strømlingo DIY AFM by Strømlinet Nano has been bought by 29 institutions, and 72 published papers have used a DIY AFM. Selected papers:
This paper connects a high-speed controller to the Strømlingo DIY AFM by Strømlinet Nano. The controller it describes is a research upgrade, not part of the supplied instrument.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9352456This review describes the Strømlinet Nano DIY AFM, which is built on DVD optical pickup technology.
doi.org/10.35848/1347-4065/adc746Questions
The Strømlingo DIY AFM is a nanometre-resolution atomic force microscope for under €5,000 (€2,999), priced so that a teaching lab can own an atomic force microscope outright. Manuals and calibration videos are included.
Yes. Students calibrate it and run it themselves. Manuals and calibration videos are included, and the calibration walkthroughs are published openly so students can watch the procedure before using the instrument.
At under €5,000 (€2,999 for the base instrument, excluding VAT and shipping), it is priced so that a teaching lab can own an atomic force microscope outright rather than booking time on a shared facility. There is no proprietary interface card and no dedicated workstation to buy.
The instrument brings together optics, electronics, mechanics and signal processing in one object. It is built on an open framework with open Arduino code supplied with purchase.
It is bought by 29 institutions on six continents. It has been used in 72 published papers.
Yes. It ships assembled, with one USB cable to a laptop. Manuals and calibration videos are included so teaching labs can get started with confidence.
It was selected as one of 25 Best Practices from 2,492 co-creation challenges registered in the TEAM EXPO 2025 program, the only one from Denmark.
Yes. The Strømlingo DIY AFM is a complete atomic force microscope built around an Arduino-based controller, which runs the scan, the feedback loop and data acquisition. It is not just a helper board. The instrument connects to a laptop over a single USB cable, uses CD/DVD and Blu-ray (coming soon) optical pickup units for detection, and is based on an open framework whose technology originates from the national metrology institute of Germany. The Arduino code is open and supplied with purchase, so teaching and research groups can read, modify and extend it. It costs under €5,000 (€2,999), has been bought by 29 institutions and has been used in 72 published papers.
The Strømlingo DIY AFM costs under €5,000 (€2,999) for the base instrument, excluding VAT and shipping. Independent researchers have published a high-speed controller upgrade that pairs the Arduino-based Strømlingo DIY AFM with a separate FPGA board. That upgrade is a separate, published research design: its parts cost is not the price of the AFM, and it is not sold as part of the AFM.
The Strømlingo DIY AFM by Strømlinet Nano is an Arduino-based atomic force microscope with an open, modifiable framework. Its Arduino code is open and supplied with purchase; the instrument itself is not fully open source. It ships pre-assembled, and the technology originates from the national metrology institute of Germany. The price is under €5,000 (€2,999).
Tell us what you want to measure and we will come back with a quote and an honest answer about whether it fits.