Automated Atomic Force Microscope and the Operation Thereof
First Claim
1. A method of operating a cantilever based measuring instrument, comprising:
- obtaining a relationship between an optical lever sensitivity of a cantilever of the cantilever based instrument in a dynamic environment where the sensitivity depends on distances to a sample, and using said relationship to determine a dynamic optical lever sensitivity called invOLS of said cantilever; and
measuring surfaces of the surface being measured using said invOLS value, by using a tip of the cantilever to measure characteristics of the surface and by estimating parameters of gain in the measurement, based on the invOLS value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Improvements for rapidly calibrating and automatically operating a scanning probe microscope are disclosed. A central component of the SPM is the force transducer, typically a consumable cantilever element. By automatically calibrating transducer characteristics along with other instrumental parameters, scanning parameters can be rapidly and easily optimized, resulting in high-throughput, repeatable and accurate measurements. In contrast to dynamic optimization schemes, this can be accomplished before the surface is contacted, avoiding tip or sample damage from the beginning of the measurement process.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of operating a cantilever based measuring instrument, comprising:
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obtaining a relationship between an optical lever sensitivity of a cantilever of the cantilever based instrument in a dynamic environment where the sensitivity depends on distances to a sample, and using said relationship to determine a dynamic optical lever sensitivity called invOLS of said cantilever; and measuring surfaces of the surface being measured using said invOLS value, by using a tip of the cantilever to measure characteristics of the surface and by estimating parameters of gain in the measurement, based on the invOLS value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 15, 16)
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9. A cantilever based measuring instrument apparatus, comprising:
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a cantilever based instrument that has a cantilever, operating to measure a surface, a controller that controls measuring information about the cantilever, in a dynamic environment where the sensitivity depends on distances to a sample, and using said relationship to determine a dynamic optical lever sensitivity called invOLS of said cantilever; and said cantilever based instrument operating for measuring surfaces of the surface being measured using said invOLS value, by using a tip of the cantilever to measure characteristics of the surface and by estimating parameters of gain in the measurement, based on the invOLS value. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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17. A method of operating a cantilever based measuring instrument, comprising:
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obtaining a first relationship between an optical lever sensitivity of a cantilever of the cantilever based instrument in a first environment to determine a parameter of said cantilever in said first environment; obtaining a second relationship between an optical lever sensitivity of a cantilever of the cantilever based instrument in a second environment to determine a parameter of said cantilever in said second environment; and determining an optical lever sensitivity InvOLS for the cantilever, based on the spring constants in both environments being the same as - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification