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AssigneesAgency of Industrial Science and Technology, Kosaka Laboratory Ltd., Seiko Instruments Inc.
InventorsShigeo Okayama, Hiroshi Tokumoto, Hiroshi Bando, Wataru Mizutani, Masayuki Shimura, Haruki Nakagawa, Masatsugu Shigeno, Kazutoshi Watanabe
Estimating the term…
A probe is shifted at a distance where the probe and a material to be obsed are sufficiently far away from each other relative to the roughness of the material's surface. This method prevents the probe from colliding with the material's surface during the shift of the probe thereby enabling high speed shift of the probe. Further, a micro-drive mechanism for controlling tunnel currents may be stopped during the shift in order to minimize the drift which may be caused by heat generated inside the micro-drive mechanism. Therefore, it is particularly advantageous to apply this STM measuring method for high-speed and stable measurement of a very large surface area and a very rough surface.
In a scanning tunneling microscope capable of controlling tunnel currents flowing between a probe and a material to be observed by changing the distance between the probe and the material, a method of measurement by scanning tunneling microscope wherein a plurality of measured values are obtained at plural measuring points by repeatedly carrying out the steps of:
A method of measuring the surface topography of a material using a scanning tunneling microscope having a movable probe, comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.