Scanning Capacitance Probe Patents (Class 977/866)
  • Patent number: 7856665
    Abstract: An apparatus and technique for measuring the electrical capacitance between a conducting tip of a scanning probe microscope and a sample surface is described. A high frequency digital vector network analyzer is connected to the probe tip of the cantilever of an atomic force microscope, and data collection is coordinated by a digital computer using digital trigger signals between the AFM controller and the vector network analyzer. Methods for imaging tip-sample capacitance and spectroscopic measurements at a single point on the sample are described. A method for system calibration is described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2010
    Assignee: Asylum Research Corporation
    Inventors: Maarten Rutgers, William H. Hertzog, Keith M. Jones, Amir A. Moshar