Sub micron-precision sample holder for accurate re-positioning of samples in Scanning Force Microscopy

摘要

Scanning Probe Microscopy allows for extreme resolution down to the atomicscale. Unfortunately, total scanning range is rather limited, therefore findinga specific position on the sample is tedious. This is an important limitationof many Scanning Probe Microscopes, in particular when the sample has to beremoved for some kind of treatment and then re-allocated to characterize thesame position where the previous experiment had been performed. In the presentwork we describe two simple and compact sub micron-precision sample holdersthat can be easily integrated in to a commercial Scanning Force Microscopysystem. The design is based either on a traditional kinematic mounting or onself-adjustment of the sample holder and the upper piece of the piezoelectricscanner as the glue used to assemble the final setup solidifies. With thesesample holders a specific sample position is automatically recovered to withinabout 100 nanometers, and thus well within the typical range of a piezoelectricscanner. Our experimental setup therefore allows ex-situ manipulation of thesample and SFM imaging of the same region without the aid of an opticalmicroscope, positioning marks and tedious re-allocation.