Patents by Inventor Thomas Stifter

Thomas Stifter has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Method for determining the distance of a near-field probe from a specimen surface to be examined, and near-field microscope
    Patent number: 6703614
    Abstract: A method for determining the distance of a scanning probe of a scanning probe microscope from a specimen surface to be examined comprising the steps of: exciting the scanning probe to oscillations lateral to a surface to be examined; recording at least one amplitude signal and a frequency signal and a phase signal of the oscillating scanning probe; superimposing a vertically oscillating movement of the scanning probe and specimen surface to be examined relative to one another is superimposed on the oscillation of the scanning probe lateral to the specimen surface to be examined; and determining the distance of the scanning probe from the specimen surface from at least one of the amplitude signal and a frequency signal and a phase signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2004
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Stifter, Othmar Marti, Robert Brunner