The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Jul. 09, 2019

Filed:

Mar. 27, 2018
Applicant:

Hitachi High-tech Science Corporation, Minato-ku, Tokyo, JP;

Inventors:

Masatsugu Shigeno, Tokyo, JP;

Kazutoshi Watanabe, Tokyo, JP;

Hiroyoshi Yamamoto, Tokyo, JP;

Assignee:
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01Q 10/04 (2010.01); G01Q 60/34 (2010.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01Q 10/045 (2013.01); G01Q 60/34 (2013.01);
Abstract

A scanning probe microscope has a cantilever having a probe at a tip of the cantilever, a driving unit that performs a separating operation for separating one of the sample and the probe from the other at a speed exceeding a response speed of the cantilever from a state where the probe is in contact with the surface of the sample, a determination unit that determines that the probe is separated from the surface of the sample when vibration of the cantilever at a predetermined amplitude is detected at a resonant frequency of the cantilever during the separating operation, and a driving control unit that stops the separating operation when the determination unit determines that the probe is separated from the surface of the sample and relatively moves the probe and the sample to a position where the probe is located on a next measuring point of the sample.


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