The
mechanics consists of three main parts: the base plate, the “body”
and the “head”. The head holds the cantilever simply
by a spring loaded mechanism. It needs no glue or cantilever holder.
All electronic components for laser and photo diode, a specialized
lens and mirror system and fine mechanics are integrated in the head.
Additionally,
a small CCD camera is mounted on the head. The camera image shows
directly the cantilever from the top. LED light, whose intensity is
adjustable, illuminates the tip and the sample.The
base plate provides the electrical connections and allows to bring
the whole system under a vacuum bell jar. This can minimize
acoustical coupling from the environment and enables to work under
protection gas. The
body is heavy and hangs vibration damped above the base plate. It
includes all tools for coarse positioning and the scanner. Usually,
the x and y coarse movement is done manually with a travel range of
5 mm. Three stepper motors allow to position the head in three
degrees of freedom.
Sample
holder and Scanner
The
scanner
is a tripod-type and scans the sample, while the tip is mounted in
the head. The sample is mounted on a steel plate on three small
magnets. Possible samples sizes are up to 2 cm by 2 cm, however,
bigger samples are possible, too. There are two new linearisation
modes for the scanners available: a software-mode and a hardware
mode. The maximum scan range is 30 µm.
