Atomic probe microscope

• Main Authors: OKADA; TAKAO, KAJIMURA; HIROSHI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 07.03.1995
• Edition: 6
• Subjects: APPLICATIONS OF SCANNING-PROBE TECHNIQUES, e.g. SCANNING PROBEMICROSCOPY [SPM]; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; MEASURING; PHYSICS; SCANNING-PROBE TECHNIQUES OR APPARATUS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ARTCOLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TESTING

A cantilever has a probe on one side of the end portion and a mirror on the opposite side. The cantilever is fixed to a support member via a piezoelectric element. A semiconductor laser situated above the mirror has a reflection cleavage plane and constitutes a Fabry-Pérot resonator between the mirror and the reflection cleavage plane. The output from the resonator varies in accordance with the amount of displacement of the end portion of the cantilever, that is, the surface configuration of the sample. This variation is detected by a detector via a photodetector. A control circuit controls a driving voltage applied to an XYZ-scanner so as to cancel the variation of the output from the resonator, thereby keeping constant the distance between the tip of the probe and the surface of the sample. The driving voltage provides height data of the sample surface. The driving voltage, along with a position signal relating to the sample surface output from the XYZ-scanner, is supplied to an image forming unit. The image forming unit generates a three-dimensional image representing the surface configuration of the sample, on the basis of the input voltage and signal.