Scan data collection for better overall data accurancy

• US 7,547,882 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2006
• Issued: 06/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bruker Nano, Inc. (Bruker Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Rave LLC (Bruker Corporation)
• Inventors: Roessler, Kenneth, Chen, Dong
• Primary Examiner(s): Wells; Nikita
• Assistant Examiner(s): SMYTH, ANDREW P
• Application Number:
  US11/378,583
• Publication Number:
  US 20060174384A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,187 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 250/306
• CPC Class Codes: G01Q 10/06 Circuits or algorithms therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01Q 30/04 Display or data processing devices

Abstract

A scan data collection operation includes performing a scanning operation using a scan path that includes a directional component that is additional to a data collection directional component. The collected scan data is mapped to another set of locations, thus allowing for detection of surface features using fewer scans.

Claims

1. In an SPM (scanning probe microscopy) system, a method for collecting scan data comprising:

positioning the probe to a first location on a surface to be scanned;

collecting scan data along a first scan path comprising;

obtaining information about the surface using a tip portion of the probe at a current location on the surface;

translating the probe to a next location on the surface, including translating the probe in a first direction and in a second direction; and

repeating the steps of obtaining and translating to collect scan data for a plurality of locations, wherein scan data for each location comprises information about the surface at said each location and a pair of first coordinates which identify said each location along the first direction and along the second direction;

repeating the step of collecting for subsequent scan paths; and

associating some of the scan data with pairs of second coordinates, so that said some of the data appear to have been collected at locations indicated by said pairs of second coordinates,

wherein subsequent processing of the scan data is performed based on the pairs of second coordinates for those scan data that have corresponding pairs of second coordinates and based on the pairs of first coordinates for those scan data that do not have corresponding pairs of second coordinates.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of associating is performed on scan data collected along one of the scan paths.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the scan paths define a scan region bounded by a first border and a second border.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the first and second borders have a substantially constant spacing therebetween.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the first and second borders have a varying spacing therebetween.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of the scan paths are characterized by a zig-zag scan pattern, the zig-zag pattern defining a scan region.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein at least some of the mapped positions coincide with a line that lies within the scan region.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein at least some of the pairs of second coordinates coincide with a border of the scan region.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the pairs of second coordinates lie entirely within the scan region.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the pairs of second coordinates lie entirely outside of the scan region.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein a first plurality of the pairs of second coordinates lie outside of the scan region and a second plurality of the pairs of second coordinates lie within the scan region.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the information about the surface is a height measurement.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the SPM system is any one of a atomic force microscopy (AFM) system, a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) system, a near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) system, a nanospectral photometry (NSP) system, a nanopolarimetry (NP) system, or a magnetic field microscopy (MFM) system.

13. A scanning probe microscopy system comprising:

probe means for detecting a physical characteristic of a surface to be scanned;

translation means operatively coupled with the probe means for moving the probe;

control means for controlling the translation means to effect a scanning operation of the surface;

data collection means for obtaining scan data from the probe means, the scan data representative of a detected physical characteristic of the surface, the scan data having corresponding first location information representative of where on the surface the scan data was obtained, including an X-direction coordinate and a Y-direction coordinate;

first processing means for remapping the corresponding location information of the scan data so that at least some of the scan data have a corresponding second location information; and

second processing means for analyzing the scan data based on the second location information, and based on the first location information if a scan datum does not have corresponding second location information.

14. The system of claim 13 further including display means for displaying the scan data using the second location information, the first location information being used if a scan datum does not have corresponding second location information.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the first processing means comprises a data processing device and program code suitable for execution by the data processing device.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the SPM system is any one of a atomic force microscopy (AFM) system, a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) system, a near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) system, a nanospectral photometry (NSP) system, a nanopolarimetry (NP) system, or a magnetic field microscopy (MFM) system.