title: An alternative flat scanner and micropositioning method for scanning probe microscope.
abstract: An alternative flat scanner used for combining a scanning probe microscope with an inverted optical microscope is presented. The scanner has a novel structure basically consisting of eight identical piezoelectric tubes, metal flexure beams, and one sample mount. Because of the specially designed structure, the scanner is able to carry a sample of more than 120 g during imaging. By applying voltages of ±150 V, scanning range of more than 30 μm in three dimensions can be achieved. To improve the reliability of the stick-slip motion, a new method for sample micropositioning is proposed by applying a pulsed voltage to the piezotubes to produce a motion in the z-axis. Reliable translation of the sample has been thus accomplished with the step length from ∼700 nm to 9 μm over a range of several millimeters. A homemade scanning probe microscope-inverted optical microscope system based on the scanner is described. Experimental results obtained with the system are shown.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Guangyi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.forename: Yusheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Junen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao