Claims
- 1. In a resonance contact scanning force microscope for examining surface contours of a specimen, the microscope having a fundamental resonance frequency, a probe secured to said cantilever arm having a probe tip adapted to follow the surface contours of the specimen, the improvement comprising:
- an oscillator driver for causing the cantilever arm to oscillate at a desired resonance harmonic frequency of said fundamental resonance frequency to substantially reduce background noise.
- 2. The microscope of claim 1, wherein said oscillator driver causes the cantilever arm to oscillate above the cantilever arm resonance frequency between about 0.1 and about 2.0 MHz.
- 3. The microscope of claim 1, wherein said oscillator drive means is connected to said cantilever arm and is operative to drive said cantilever arm with an oscillation amplitude between about 10 .ANG. and 300 .ANG..
- 4. The microscope of claim 1, further including scanning means for scanning said specimen relative to said probe tip, and wherein said oscillator driver is connected to said scanning means and is operative to drive said scanning means relative to said cantilever arm with an oscillation amplitude between about 10 .ANG. and 300 .ANG..
- 5. In a method for operating a scanning force microscope in a resonance contact mode for examining surface contours of a specimen, the microscope having a cantilever arm having a fundamental resonance frequency, and a probe secured to the cantilever arm having a probe tip adapted to follow the surface contours of the specimen, the method including the steps of scanning the specimen relative to the probe tip, and measuring deflection of the cantilever arm, the improvement in the method comprising the step of:
- oscillating said cantilever arm relative to the surface of said specimen at a desired harmonic frequency of said fundamental resonance frequency to substantially reduce background noise.
- 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of oscillating said cantilever arm relative to the surface of said specimen comprises oscillating the cantilever arm at a frequency between about 0.1 and about 2.0 MHz.
- 7. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of oscillating said cantilever arm relative to the surface of said specimen comprises oscillating the cantilever arm at a frequency above about 0.4 MHz.
- 8. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of oscillating said cantilever arm relative to the surface of said specimen comprises driving oscillations of the cantilever arm at an amplitude between about 10 .ANG. and 300 .ANG..
- 9. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of oscillating said cantilever arm relative to the surface of said specimen comprises driving oscillations of the specimen relative to the cantilever arm at an amplitude between about 10 .ANG. and 300 .ANG..
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 08/500,544 filed Jul. 11, 1995, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/055,236 filed Apr. 28, 1993 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,908.
US Referenced Citations (14)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
TopoMetrix Corporation, AFM Imaging Modes, Mar. 1993 16 pages. |
Putman, Constant A.J., et al., Tapping mode atomic force microscopy in liquid, Appl. Phys. Lett. 64 (18), 2 May 1994, pp. 2454-2456. |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
55236 |
Apr 1993 |
|
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
500544 |
Jul 1995 |
|