Novel three-dimensional beam tracking system for stationary-sample type atomic force microscopy

The stationary-sample type atomic force microscope (AFM) has been demonstrated to have many advantages over conventional scanning-sample type AFM. However, a higher degree of instrumentation complexity has to be adopted to measure the deflection of a 3-dimensional moving probe in the stationary-sample type AFM. This paper proposes a novel stationary-sample type AFM with a laser beam tracking system. We devise an innovative method to minimize "false deflection". Our system has been verified to achieve high scanning speed without sacrificing high accuracy.