本文提出和发展了一种多扫描方式的新型原子力显微镜 (AFM)技术及系统。该系统拥有三个不同的扫描器, 以相互组合的方式实现三种不同的扫描方式, 由管状压电陶瓷驱动的柔性结构扫描器, 采用样品扫描方式, 对于小尺寸样品能够提供高分辨率的快速扫描; 由叠层式压电陶瓷驱动的扫描器, 采用探针扫描方式, 提供各类样品的大范围扫描; 由步进电机驱动的扫描器, 采用样品扫描方式, 能够实现大尺寸样品的大范围扫描。三种方式的单幅图像扫描范围可分别达到 4 μm×4 μm、20 μm×20 μm、40 μm×40 μm。实验结果表明, 借助于上述多扫描方式及独特的结构设计, 该 AFM不仅具有分辨率高、扫描速度快、重复性好等优化性能, 而且能同时实现各类尺寸样品的各种扫描范围的微纳米成像, 具有更好的实用性, 可望在微纳米技术领域获得广泛应用。

A novel large-stage atomic force microscope (AFM) for nondestructive characterization of optical thin films is built. An open sample stage and a probe unit are employed to measure samples with large size and weight. Three optical thin films with large areas are imaged using this AFM without needing to cut the pieces apart. Experimental results show that the maximum scanning range for one single image can reach 20×20 (μm) while keeping a high resolution laterally and vertically. The maximum possible size of a sample is 600×1000 (mm). The new AFM is capable of performing wide-range and high-resolution characterizations of large samples such as large-area optical thin films.

A scanned-cantilever atomic force microscope (AFM) with large scanning range is proposed, which adopts a new design named laser spot tracking. The scanned-cantilever AFM uses the separate flexure x-y scanner and z scanner instead of the conventional piezoelectric tube scanner. The closed-loop control and integrated capacitive sensors of these scanners can insure that the images of samples have excellent linearity and stability. According to the experimental results, the scanned-cantilever AFM can realize maximal 100*100 (micron) scanning range, and 1-nm resolution in z direction, which can meet the requirements of large scale sample testing.