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Upgrading An Optical Microscope To Scanning Probe Microscopy Performance

07 Apr 2004

The German company Surface Imaging Systems have developed an upgrade for a standard optical microscope providing it with the power to operate as a high resolution scanning probe or atomic force microscope. The new ULTRAObjective is similar in size and shape to a standard optical objective and is simply screwed into the rotating objective holder. This combination of optical microscopy with the ULTRAObjective offers completely new possibilities for surface structure analysis. The handling of the microscope remains unchanged, a sample may be viewed optically through the eyepiece or with a CCD camera and the area of interest (ROI) can be identified. The ULTRAObjective can then be rotated into position and the small tip is brought safely into position without disturbing the sample. The ROI can now be viewed in detail and quantitative three dimensional data can be obtained at better than 500,000x to characterise structures at nanometre levels.

Little preparation of samples is necessary, only careful cleaning in some cases, no conductive coating is required making the system ideal for hard disk, lithography masks and wafer structure examination and measurement. Soft surfaces like biological samples or soft contact lenses present no problems and an immersible option permits the biomolecular investigation of samples which are only stable in aqueous solutions.

A version of the instrument incorporates the ULTRAObjective into a standalone unit mounted on a granite bed. This system, the PICOStation has a noise level below 0.05nm rms allowing a vertical resolution of better than 0.1nm.

The SCANControl C electronics module used with the ULTRAObjective uses programmable logic to provide not only the most precise but also the most versatile SPM controller. With contact mode as standard, the controller can be extended to include many SPM measurement modes. The S/Scan Panel software available combines complex functionality with ease of operation. The SCANControl C connects directly to USB port of a PC making data transfer fast and easy. The evaluation software provided with the controller is extremely versatile permitting display and manipulation of all results. The numerous measurement possibilities include statistical analysis of resulting data to provide, for example, roughness determination.


For more information contact Graeme Gibbons at Lambda Photometrics Ltd
Lambda House, Batford Mill, Harpenden, Herts AL5 5BZ
Tel: 01582 764334 Fax: 01582 712084 E-mail: graeme@lambdaphoto.co.uk


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