PROBE SCANNING TYPE MICROSCOPE

• Main Author: NANKO TOMOAKI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 05.08.1994
• Edition: 5
• Subjects: APPLICATIONS OF SCANNING-PROBE TECHNIQUES, e.g. SCANNING PROBEMICROSCOPY [SPM]; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS; ELECTRICITY; MEASURING; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS; MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEARDIMENSIONS; PHYSICS; SCANNING-PROBE TECHNIQUES OR APPARATUS; TESTING

PURPOSE:To enable to use a probe of high aspect ratio by providing a force detecting means in the opposite direction of scanning and an adder, and controlling the distance between the probe and a sample. CONSTITUTION:A cantilever part 1A is deformed by the force between a probe 1 and a sample 2, and the force in the longitudinal direction applied on the probe 1 is obtained from the incident light quantity of laser beam of the light source 3 on the detection element of four divided photodiode by means of a detecting circuit 10 for displacement in the longitudinal direction. Next, the component perpendicular to the lever part 1A of the force in the lateral direction is obtained by a first lateral displacement detecting circuit 12, and the component along the lever part 1A is obtained by a second lateral displacement detecting device 14. The lateral force in the opposite direction of scanning applied or the probe 1 is obtained from both the lateral components through a computer 18 and an adder 13. A servo circuit 16 controls a Z-actuator so as to make the computed result of the adder 11 constant, drives X, Y actuators 7, 8, and the sample 2 is scanned with the probe 1 thereon, and the form of the sample 2 is measured from output of the circuit 16 through a filter 17 and the computer 18.