| 主权项 |
1. A scanning probe microscope (SPM) system for characterizing target regions of a sample, the SPM system comprising:
a probe including a tip having an apex adapted to interact with nanoscale features of the sample, wherein a relative position of the apex and specific nanoscal features of the sample is not visually observable; a sample data module configured to maintain:
location information for each of a plurality of features of interest in remote regions of the sample according to a sample-specific coordinate system; andfeature identification information for each of the plurality of features of interest, the feature identification information including structural properties of each of the plurality of features of interest; a probe positioning system including actuators and actuator control circuitry configured to adjust a relative positioning between the probe and the sample with sub-micron resolution according to a SPM coordinate system, wherein adjustment of the relative positioning includes:
shuttling of the relative positioning between the probe and the sample to globally reposition the probe to specific locations in remote regions of the sample; andscanning within a target region to cause interaction of the probe tip and the nanoscale features of the sample to produce a three-dimensional image of that target region; a SPM coordinate registration module configured to manage a dynamic relationship between the sample-specific coordinate system and the SPM coordinate system, wherein the SPM coordinate registration module is configured to determine, based on a scan of at least one of the plurality of features of interest, and on the feature identification information, a set of alignment errors between the sample-specific coordinate system and the SPM coordinate system, and apply corrections to the SPM coordinate system to offset the alignment errors; a scan region selection control module operatively coupled to the probe positioning system and the SPM coordinate registration module, the scan region selection control module being configured to:
cause the probe positioning system to shuttle the relative positioning between the probe and the sample from an initial position on the sample to a subsequent position on the sample corresponding to a sub-micron remote region of the sample in which a subsequent one of the plurality of features is located and perform a scan of the subsequent one of the plurality of features; andcause the SPM coordinate registration module to update the set of alignment errors and apply updated corrections to the SPM coordinate system. |
