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:
Mar. 13, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 08, 1998
Eisuke Tomita, Chiba, JP;
Seiko Instruments Inc., , JP;
Abstract
A scanning probe microscope comprises a probe extending in a Z direction, a piezoelectric vibrating body for vibrating the probe relative to a surface of a sample, and a vibration detecting device having a quartz oscillator for detecting the probe vibration. A biasing member biases the probe into pressure contact with the quartz oscillator of the vibration detecting device to integrally connect the probe to the quartz oscillator. A coarse displacement device effects coarse displacement of the probe in the Z direction. A fine displacement device effects fine displacement of the probe in the Z direction. A scanning device scans the probe in X and Y directions relative to the surface of the sample to generate a measurement signal. A data processing device converts the measurement signal into a three-dimensional image.