CANTILEVER DEFLECTION SENSOR AND USE THEREOF

摘要

PCT No. PCT/EP95/00431 Sec. 371 Date Oct. 3, 1996 Sec. 102(e) Date Oct. 3, 1996 PCT Filed Feb. 7, 1995 PCT Pub. No. WO96/24819 PCT Pub. Date Aug. 15, 1996A new method and an apparatus for measuring the deflection of or the force exerted upon a cantilever-type micromechanical element is presented which is based on detecting radiation emitted from the gap between the cantilever (220) and a second surface (230, 231). The radiation, while occurring spontaneously at high frequencies when appropriately biasing the cantilever and the second surface by a voltage, can be enlarged by using external energy sources. The new method and apparatus is also applied to surface investigation, particularly to dopant profiling.