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.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 24, 1997
Filed:
Feb. 27, 1995
Khaled Karrai, Munich, DE;
Abstract
A scanning probe microscope, in particular for near-field scanning optical, friction force and atomic force microscopy, comprises a tip piece attached to an oscillator of piezoelectric material. This oscillator is coupled to a further oscillator thereby forming a coupled oscillator arrangement. In a most preferred embodiment, the coupled oscillator arrangement is a quartz piezoelectric tuning fork. In use, the tip piece is vibrated relative to the sample. Tip-sample interaction strains the piezoelectric material and is measurable via contacts placed on the piezoelectric material which are responsive to the strain-induced piezoelectric charge. The coupled oscillator arrangement allows a large Q of several thousand or more to be realized. The microscope is easy to operate due to the purely electrical signal collection. The probe head can operate in vacuum, at cryogenic temperatures or in high magnetic fields.