Method and Apparatus of Tuning a Scanning Probe Microscope

Abstract

An apparatus and method of automatically determining an operating frequency of a scanning probe microscope such as an atomic force microscope (AFM) is shown. The operating frequency is not selected based on a peak of the amplitude response of the probe when swept over a range of frequencies; rather, the operating frequency is selected using only peak data corresponding to a TIDPS curve.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method of operating a scanning probe microscope (SPM) comprising:
 tuning the SPM to determine an operating frequency of a drive of the SPM by plotting thermal data having a thermal peak on top of a conventional tuning curve; and   wherein the tuning curve has two peaks separated by a valley, and wherein the operating frequency is at about a midpoint on a downslope of the valley corresponding to the thermal peak.