Open AccessCompact ultra-fast vertical nanopositioner for improving scanning probe microscope scan speed
Author(s) -
Brian J. Kenton,
Andrew J. Fleming,
Kam K. Leang
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
review of scientific instruments
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.605
H-Index - 165
eISSN - 1089-7623
pISSN - 0034-6748
DOI - 10.1063/1.3664613
Subject(s) - actuator , bandwidth (computing) , materials science , optics , microscope , workbench , finite element method , stack (abstract data type) , acoustics , scanning probe microscopy , computer science , mechanical engineering , optoelectronics , physics , telecommunications , structural engineering , engineering , artificial intelligence , visualization , programming language
The mechanical design of a high-bandwidth, short-range vertical positioning stage is described for integration with a commercial scanning probe microscope (SPM) for dual-stage actuation to significantly improve scanning performance. The vertical motion of the sample platform is driven by a stiff and compact piezo-stack actuator and guided by a novel circular flexure to minimize undesirable mechanical resonances that can limit the performance of the vertical feedback control loop. Finite element analysis is performed to study the key issues that affect performance. To relax the need for properly securing the stage to a working surface, such as a laboratory workbench, an inertial cancellation scheme is utilized. The measured dominant unloaded mechanical resonance of a prototype stage is above 150 kHz and the travel range is approximately 1.56 μm. The high-bandwidth stage is experimentally evaluated with a basic commercial SPM, and results show over 25-times improvement in the scanning performance
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