Compound microscope

Abstract

A compound microscope of an optical microscope and a scanning probe microscope includes a stage to support a sample substrate holding a sample, and a cantilever chip having a substrate, a cantilever supported by the substrate, and a probe provided at the free end of the cantilever. The compound microscope further includes a scanner to hold the cantilever chip so that the probe faces the sample substrate and so that the substrate is inclined with respect to the sample substrate and to three-dimensionally scan the cantilever chip with respect to the sample substrate, a displacement sensor to optically detect the displacement of the cantilever, and an illumination light source to apply illumination light for observation by the optical microscope to the sample through the space between the substrate and the sample substrate.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.