METHOD FOR BRINGING PROBE OF PROBE MICROSCOPE NEARER TO SAMPLE

摘要

PURPOSE:To provide a method by which the probe of a probe microscope can be safely brought nearer to a sample in a short time without causing the probe to collide with the sample. CONSTITUTION:A sample 4 set on a sample stage 5 is observed under an optical microscope 10. A probe 1 is positioned within the visual field of the microscope 10. A Z-axis displacing mechanism 2 moves the probe 1 in the vertical direction and a lifting/ lowering mechanism 11 moves the microscope 10 in the vertical direction. The image of the sample 4 obtained through the microscope 10 is displayed on a display device 14 by means of a CCD camera 12 and picture processor 13. When the probe 1 is brought nearer to the sample 4, the microscope 10 is displaced to the position where the microscope 1 is focused on the probe 1 and another position where the microscope 10 is focused on the sample 4 and the distance between the two positions is found. Then the probe 1 is brought nearer to the sample 4 based on the distance and, thereafter, the probe 1 is slowly brought nearer to the sample 4 until the probe 1 reaches a point at a prescribed distance from the sample 4. Since the distance between the probe 1 and sample 4 can be made extremely short in the first approaching operation, the overall moving time of the probe 1 can be remarkably reduced.