Witec Wissenschaftliche Instrumente Und Technologie Gmbh

Witec Wissenchaftliche Instrumente Und Technologie Gmbh

Joachim Koenen

Othmar Marti

Peter Spizig

Jörg Förstner

Detlef Sanchen

Gerhard Volswinkler

Detief Sanchen

A microscope, in particular a scanning probe microscope, comprising a programmable logic device.

Scanning probe in pulsed-force mode, digital and in real time

Microscope, in particular a scanning probe microscope, comprising a programmable logic device.

The invention relates to a method for creating the image of a sample surface to be analyzed, with a resolution which is better than 1 &#x3bc;m laterally in relation to the sample surface and better than 100 nm vertically in relation to said surface. According to the invention, the surface is scanned on a point-by-point basis by a scanning probe, the distance between the scanning probe and the sample surface at each scanning point being periodically modulated, in such a way that a force-time curve of the probe is produced for this point. The force-time curve is recorded at each scanning point, digitized using an A/D converter, evaluated online in real-time and stored, together with the entire data stream, in a first area of a memory device. One or several characteristic variables of the force-time curves are determined for each scanning point from the real-time evaluation results and the stored digitized force-time curves and an image of the sample surface is obtained from said characteristic variables of the scanning points.

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Ulm, Germany

Joachim Koenen