Thermomicroscopes Corporation

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Park Scientific Instruments

David Braunstein

Michael D Kirk

Thai Nguyen

Quoc Ly

Qing Dai

Bruno Jacques Marchon

Ouoc Ly

A method is presented for measuring the height of an air-bearing separating a flying component from a rotating surface using physical deformation of a small amount of material deposited on the surface. One embodiment of the invention is a method of measuring the fly-height of a slider using physical deformation of material deposited on the disk. Small amounts of the deformable material such as a viscoelastic lubricant are placed on a limited area of the disk so that the slider can otherwise fly normally. The slider's fly-height is established over the unaltered portion of the disk, then the slider impacts the deformable material. This process results in the deformable material being flattened or removed above the fly-height of the slider. The height of the remaining material is then measurable as the fly-height.

Slider fly-height measurement using viscoelastic material

Scanning probe microscopes and scanning probe heads are provided having improved optical visualization and sample manipulation capabilities. The SPMs and SPM heads include at least one flexure stage for scanning in the x, y and/or z directions. In a preferred embodiment, the SPMs or SPM heads include flexure stages for scanning in the x, y and z directions. The z scanning stage is preferably positioned outside the lateral footprint of the x-y flexure stage so that a probe extending from the z scanning stage is outside the lateral footprint of the instrument. The SPMs and SPM heads are configured to provide top down and bottom up optical views of the sample and/or the probe and enable simultaneous scanning probe microscopy and optical imaging of a sample to be performed. The SPMs and SPM heads are designed to be readily combinable with existing upright and inverted optical microscopes currently available from various major manufacturers.

Optical microscope stage for scanning probe microscope

Kinematically mounted probe holder for scanning probe microscope

Scanning probe microscope providing unobstructed top down and bottom up

Growing community of inventors

Campbell, CA, United States of America

David Braunstein