Note: vibration reduction control of an atomic force microscope using an additional cantilever.

Since an atomic force microscope is used to measure sub-nanometer level precision, it is sensitive to external vibration. If the vibration can be measured by using an additional sensor, we can obtain the vibration-free signal by subtracting the vibration signal from the signal containing the vibration. To achieve a highly effective vibration rejection ratio, it is important to decide where to locate the additional sensor. This is because the vibration measured at the sensing position should have the same phase as that of the vibration in the signal. Vibration reduction control using this electrical sensing method is verified through time domain analysis and topology images of a standard grid sample.

Design of mechanical components for vibration reduction in an atomic force microscope.

Vibration is a key factor to be considered when designing the mechanical components of a high precision and high speed atomic force microscope (AFM). It is required to design the mechanical components so that they have resonant frequencies higher than the external and internal vibration frequencies. In this work, the mechanical vibration in a conventional AFM system is analyzed by considering its mechanical components, and a vibration reduction is then achieved by reconfiguring the mechanical components. To analyze the mechanical vibration, a schematic of the lumped model of the AFM system is derived and the vibrational influences of the AFM components are experimentally examined. Based on this vibration analysis, a reconfigured AFM system is proposed and its effects are compared to a conventional system through a series of simulations and experiments.

Control of voice coil motor nanoscanners for an atomic force microscopy system using a loop shaping technique.

The voice coil motor nanoscanner has the advantages of large working range, easy control, and low cost compared to the conventional lead zirconate titanate driven nanoscanner. However, it has a small damping problem which causes mechanical vibration. The mechanical vibration reduces the accuracy as well as servobandwidth, which deteoriates the atomic force microscopy (AFM) image of the samples. In order to solve the vibration problem, the loop shaping technique [for vertical (z)] and input prefilter [for lateral (xy)] are applied. Experimental results of the proposed techniques are presented for vertical (z) and lateral (xy) scanner. Finally, the AFM images are provided to investigate its effect.