A method for driving a scanning probe microscope at elevated scan frequencies

摘要

A method for operating a scanning probe microscope (10) at elevated scan frequencies is disclosed, which comprises a characterization stage, including sweeping a plurality of excitation frequencies of the vertical displacement of the scanning element (T); measuring the value attained by the reading parameter at the excitation frequencies; and identifying plateau regions of the response spectrum of the reading parameter, where the reading parameter variation is limited within a predetermined range over a predefined frequency interval, thereby defining corresponding fast scanning frequency windows (W) in which the microscope assembly is sufficiently stable to yield a lateral resolution comparable to the one obtained during slow measurements. The measurement stage includes driving the scanning element (T) along at least a scanning trajectory over the surface of the specimen (S) at a frequency selected among the frequencies included in a fast scanning frequency window (W).