We describe a novel displacement sensor for scanning probe microscopies using an integrated optical micro ring resonator. This device operates by means of monitoring the changes in the transmission spectrum of a high finesse micro ring resonator. Finite element method simulations were carried out to obtain the optimum sensor design and finite difference time domain simulation was used to obtain the transfer characteristics of micro ring resonators. Operation principles and sensitivity calculations are discussed in detail. To achieve high sensitivity, we have studied different types of ring resonator. The highest sensitivity is obtained in a race-track resonator. This new design should provide sensitivities as high as ∼10 -4 Å -1.