CN117741185A - An integrated multi-head fast switching scanning probe microscope and scanning method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses an integrated multi-head fast-switching scanning probe microscope and a scanning method. The scanning probe microscope includes a common inertia motor, multiple piezoelectric scanning tubes, a square weight block, a spring leaf, a sample stage, a metal Shell, sliding rod, limit ring, insulating ring, fixed insulating ring and insulating top cover. The common inertia motor is provided with an insulating top cover. A square heavy block is fixed on the insulating top cover. The common inertia motor is 1 in the transverse direction. /4 is divided into two parts, namely the transverse inertia motor and the longitudinal inertia motor. An insulating ring is bonded to the electrode dividing part, and there are two protrusions outside the insulating ring that are fixed to the metal shell. The metal shell wraps the entire shared inertia motor and There is a probe scanning head on the square heavy block, with a sliding rod on the side of the metal shell, and the top of the sliding rod is connected by a connecting rod, and a sample stage is bonded to the connecting rod. The invention has the ability to quickly switch between different scanning heads, thereby significantly improving the efficiency and convenience of using the microscope.

Description

An integrated multi-head fast switching scanning probe microscope and scanning method

Technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of scanning probe microscopes, and in particular to an integrated multi-head fast switching scanning probe microscope and a scanning method.

Background technique

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is a microscope widely used in the fields of materials science and nanotechnology. It obtains information on the sample surface through the scanning motion of the probe. The SPM family includes various types of microscopes, such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), magnetic force microscopy (MFM), scanning capacitance microscopy (SCaM), scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM), electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) ), scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) and scanning thermal microscopy (SThM), etc. Each SPM has unique imaging principles and applications. For example, the principle of scanning tunneling microscopy is to obtain the charge distribution information on the sample surface by detecting the tunneling current between the probe and the sample; the atomic force microscope is based on the detection of the tunneling current between the probe and the sample. The force information between the specimens is used to obtain the surface topography characteristics; the magnetic force microscope obtains the surface magnetic distribution by detecting the magnetic interaction between the probe and the specimen surface; the scanning capacitance microscope is used to detect the relationship between the metal probe and the specimen. capacitance distribution among them, etc.

While these scanning probe microscopes are specialized, they come with some limitations. For example, scanning tunneling microscopy can only detect the charge distribution on the surface of metal or semiconductor samples, but cannot obtain data such as force information, the true topography of the surface, insulating samples, and capacitance distribution. Atomic force microscopy can only detect the morphology of the sample and cannot obtain information such as magnetic distribution and charge distribution on the sample surface. Magnetic force microscopy can only detect the magnetic domain distribution of the sample and cannot detect other effective information. Therefore, to comprehensively detect the surface information of a sample, it is necessary to switch to different scanning probe microscopes for characterization, which undoubtedly increases the complexity and cost of the operation.

In addition, these microscopes are also very expensive, with a single device usually costing between tens of thousands and millions. And changing samples is also a time-consuming and delicate task. If the sample needs to be tested in special environments such as high vacuum, extremely low temperature, strong magnetic field, etc., the time cost of replacing the sample will further increase. Therefore, detecting comprehensive information on samples by changing microscopes is a very time-consuming, laborious and expensive task, and there are few relevant reports internationally.

Contents of the invention

Purpose of the invention: The purpose of the present invention is to provide an integrated multi-head fast switching scanning probe microscope; another purpose of the present invention is to provide a scanning method for the scanning probe microscope.

Technical solution: The integrated multi-head fast-switching scanning probe microscope of the present invention includes a common inertial motor, multiple piezoelectric scanning tubes, square weight blocks, spring sheets, sample stages, metal shells, sliding rods, and limit rings. , insulating ring, fixed insulating ring and insulating top cover. The common inertia motor is provided with an insulating top cover. A square heavy block is fixed on the insulating top cover. The common inertia motor is divided into two parts at 1/4 of the transverse direction. They are transverse inertia motors and longitudinal inertia motors. An insulating ring is fixed at the electrode separation point, and there are two protrusions outside the insulating ring that are fixed to the metal shell. The metal shell wraps the entire shared inertia motor and the detector on the square heavy block. The needle scanning head has a sliding rod on the side of the metal shell. The top of the sliding rod is connected by a connecting rod, and the sample stage is bonded to the connecting rod.

Further, the common inertial motor includes four outer electrodes and one inner electrode, and the four outer electrodes are respectively called +X, -X, +Y, and -Y.

Further, the transverse inertia motor is used for inertial swing in the XY plane. The four outer electrodes are called +X, -X, +Y, and -Y respectively, and the upper end is bonded with an insulating top cover.

Further, the longitudinal inertia motor is used for inertial stepping in the Z-axis direction, and a bottom insulating ring is bonded to the outside of the bottom.

Further, the square weight block is placed on the top cover of the upper edge of the transverse inertia motor, and four different scanning probe scanning heads are fixed on the four corners. The probe scanning heads are electrically isolated from the square weight block. .

Further, the limiting ring on the metal housing is located on the upper side of the entire housing, and the square weight block is located in the center of the limiting ring.

Further, the inner and outer diameters of the hollow cylinder of the sliding rod and the hollow cylinder of the housing are equal.

Further, the slide rod and the bottom insulating ring of the common inertia motor are elastically connected through a pair of spring leaves.

Further, the slide bar is set to be transparent.

The scanning method includes the following steps:

(1) The inner electrode of the transverse inertia motor is grounded, and the four outer electrodes are controlled to swing the square weight block above it to move in the XY plane until it is at the corresponding corner of the limit ring. At this time, there will be a corresponding scanning head and a common The inertia motor is coaxial, that is, it is in the center of the common inertia motor, which is directly below the sample;

(2) The four outer electrodes of the longitudinal inertia motor are connected together, and the inner electrode is grounded. A slowly extending voltage signal is applied to the outer electrode of the motor. At this time, the bottom of the motor will move downward together with the slide rod, and then a rapid shortening signal is given to the motor. , the bottom of the motor will shorten, and the slide rod will move one step downward relative to the motor due to inertia. The slide rod and the sample will approach the probe. Repeat step (1) until the STM probe reaches the sample surface;

(3) When the probe reaches the sample surface, the four external electrodes of the scanning head are controlled to apply scanning signals to scan the sample;

(4) After scanning, if you need to replace other scan heads, you can control the longitudinal inertia motor and the scan head to move away from the sample. The bottom of the shared inertia motor moves upward together with the slide bar to give the shared inertia motor a rapid extension signal. The bottom of the shared inertia motor will extend, the slide rod moves upward relative to the motor due to inertia, and the slide rod together with the sample moves away from the probe;

(5) When it is far enough, control the transverse inertia motor to swing the square weight block above it to move in the XY plane, for example, in the +X and -Y directions until it is at the corresponding corner of the limit ring. At this time, the corresponding The scan head (such as this one is coaxial with a shared inertia motor;

(6) Repeat the above steps (2) and (3), send the AFM scanning head and probe to the sample surface, and scan accordingly.

Beneficial effects: Compared with the existing technology, the present invention has the following significant advantages: it can greatly expand the application field of the original single microscope, significantly reduce the cost of the microscope, and can also save the preparation time consumed in switching back and forth between different microscopes. The microscope of the present invention It has the ability to quickly switch between different scanning heads, thus significantly improving the efficiency and convenience of using the microscope.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a top view of the present invention;

Figure 3 is an exploded view of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a shared inertia motor;

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the square heavy block and fixed insulating ring;

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the metal shell structure;

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the sliding rod structure.

Detailed ways

The technical solution of the present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in Figure 1, it is a schematic diagram of an integrated multi-scan head fast switching scanning probe microscope. The integrated multi-scan head fast-switching scanning probe microscope designed by the present invention consists of a larger shared inertia motor 1, four piezoelectric scanning tubes, a square weight block 3, a spring leaf 4, a sample stage 5, and a metal shell 2 , sliding rod 6, limiting ring 7, insulating ring 8, fixed insulating ring 9 and insulating top cover 10.

The shared inertial motor, as shown in Figure 4, is a complete four-quadrant scan tube with four external electrodes (+X, -X, +Y, -Y) and one internal electrode. The scanning tube needs to divide the outer electrode horizontally, and the dividing line is about 1/4, forming two relatively independent parts, the upper and lower parts (the outer electrode is divided, and the inner electrode is grounded). The upper part is used for inertial swing in the XY plane, which is called the transverse inertia motor 11, and its four outer electrodes are called +X, -X, +Y, and -Y respectively. The lower part is used for inertial stepping in the Z-axis direction and is called the longitudinal inertia motor 12. The four external electrodes of the longitudinal inertia motor 12 do not need to be controlled separately and can be connected together through conductive glue. Therefore, the external electrodes of the longitudinal inertia motor part are not distinguished in FIG. 4 . A bottom insulating ring 8 is bonded to the outside of the bottom of the longitudinal inertia motor 12, and an insulating top cover 10 is bonded to the upper end of the transverse inertia motor 11.

A fixed insulating ring 9 is bonded at the dividing point of the scanning tube electrode, and there are two protrusions on the outside of the insulating ring for fixing with the outer casing. As shown in Figure 5. On the top cover 10 of the upper edge of the transverse inertia motor 11, a square weight block 3 is placed. The square weight block is made of metal. The transverse inertia motor 11 can control the movement of the weight block in the XY plane by swinging the signal. The square weight block 3 is Four different scanning probe scanning heads are fixedly bonded to the four corners of the weight block 3 to perform different scanning tasks. The scanning heads are electrically isolated from the square weight block 3 . For example, the first is an STM scanning head, the second is an AFM scanning head, the third is an MFM scanning head, the fourth is a SECM microscopy head, etc. Here you can design it according to the user's needs. At the same time, different scanning heads are connected to different detection circuits, and the circuit information is not shown here.

The structure of the metal shell is shown in Figure 6, which is an integrated structure. The left and right sides are each close to a quarter of a hollow cylinder, and the upper middle position is connected by a limiting ring 7 .

The common inertia motor 1 and the metal shell 2 are bonded to each other through the two protrusions of the fixed insulating ring 9. The lower end of the metal shell 2 is flush with the lower end of the motor. The limit ring 7 on the metal shell 2 is connected to the insulating top above the scanning head. The covers 1O are spaced apart at a certain distance, as shown in Figure 2 . The square weight block 3 is located in the center of the limit ring 7, and the limit ring 7 limits the movement range of the weight block in the XY direction. When the square heavy block moves to a certain corner of a certain limit ring, a corresponding scanning tube happens to be in a coaxial state with the common inertia motor 1.

The motor slide rod 6 is shown in Figure 7 and has an integrated structure. The left and right sides are each nearly a quarter of a hollow cylinder, and the tops are connected by connecting rods. A sample stage is bonded to the connecting rod for bonding the sample. The inner and outer diameters of the hollow cylinder of the slide rod 6 and the hollow cylinder of the shell are equal, but there is a small gap between them, so that the shell serves as a guide rail for the slide rod 6, ensuring that the guide rail can slide along the Z direction of the shell without offset. The sliding rod 6 and the bottom insulating ring 8 of the motor are elastically connected through a pair of spring leaves 4, as shown in Figure 3. The final assembly diagram is shown in Figure 1, in which the slide bar is set to be transparent to facilitate viewing of its internal structure.

The specific scanning method includes the following steps:

In the first step, the inner electrode of the upper part of the common inertia motor (transverse inertia motor) is grounded, and the four outer electrodes are controlled to swing the square weight block above it to move in the XY plane, for example, to move in the +X and +Y directions until it is in corresponding corners of the limit ring. At this time, there will be a corresponding scanning head (for example, the STM scanning head bonded here) coaxial with the common inertia motor, that is, it is in the center of the common inertia motor, which is directly below the sample.

In the second step, the four outer electrodes of the lower part of the common inertia motor (longitudinal inertia motor) are connected together, and the inner electrode is grounded. Apply a slowly extending voltage signal to the outer electrode of the motor. At this time, the bottom of the motor will move downward together with the slide rod. Then give the motor a quick shortening signal, the bottom of the motor will shorten, and the slide bar will move one step downward relative to the motor due to inertia. Then the slider together with the sample will be close to the probe.

Repeat the first step until the STM probe reaches the sample surface.

In the third step, when the probe reaches the sample surface, the four external electrodes of the scanning head are controlled to apply scanning signals to scan the sample.

Step 4: After scanning, if you need to replace another scanning head, you can control the longitudinal inertia motor and scanning head to move away from the sample. That is, a slowly shortening voltage signal is applied to the outer electrode of the motor. At this time, the bottom of the motor will move upward together with the slide rod. Then give the motor a rapid extension signal, the bottom of the motor will extend, and the slide bar will move one step upward relative to the motor due to inertia. Then the slider together with the sample will move away from the probe.

In the fifth step, when it is far enough, control the transverse inertia motor to swing the square weight block above it to move in the XY plane, for example, in the +X and -Y directions until it is at the corresponding corner of the limit ring. At this time, there will be a corresponding scanning head (for example, the AFM scanning head bonded here) coaxial with the common inertia motor.

Step 6: Repeat steps 2 and 3 above to send the AFM scanning head and probe to the sample surface and scan accordingly.

By repeating the above steps, four scanning heads can be controlled to scan the sample, achieving multi-functional imaging of the same sample.

Claims (10)

1. An integrated multi-head fast-switching scanning probe microscope, characterized by: including a common inertia motor (1), multiple piezoelectric scanning tubes, a square heavy block (3), a spring leaf (4), and a sample stage (5), metal shell (2), sliding rod (6), limiting ring (7), insulating ring (8), fixed insulating ring (9) and insulating top cover (10), the shared inertia motor (1 ) is provided with an insulating top cover (10) on the top, and an insulating ring (8) is provided on the bottom. A square heavy block (3) is fixed on the insulating top cover (10), and the common inertia motor (1) is at 1/4 of the transverse direction. It is divided into two parts, which are the transverse inertia motor (11) and the longitudinal inertia motor (12). The insulating ring (9) is bonded and fixed at the electrode division, and there are two places outside the insulating ring (9) that are fixed to the metal shell (2). The metal shell (2) wraps the entire common inertia motor (1) and the probe scanning head on the square heavy block (3). The metal shell (2) has a sliding rod (6) on the side, and the sliding rod (6) 6) The top is connected by a connecting rod, and the sample stage (5) is bonded to the connecting rod. 2. The integrated multi-head fast switching scanning probe microscope according to claim 1, characterized in that: the common inertia motor (1) includes four external electrodes and one internal electrode, and the four external electrodes are respectively called + X, -X, +Y, -Y. 3. The integrated multi-head fast-switching scanning probe microscope according to claim 1, characterized in that: the transverse inertial horse (11) is used for inertial swing in the XY plane, and the four outer electrodes are respectively called +X, -X, +Y, -Y, and the upper end is bonded with an insulating top cover (10). 4. The integrated multi-head fast-switching scanning probe microscope according to claim 1, characterized in that: the longitudinal inertial motor (12) is used for inertial stepping in the Z-axis direction, and a fixed insulating ring is bonded to the outside of the bottom. (9). 5. The integrated multi-head fast-switching scanning probe microscope according to claim 1, characterized in that: the square weight block (3) is arranged on the top cover of the upper edge of the transverse inertia motor, and is fixed on the four corners. There are four different scanning probe scanning heads, and the probe scanning heads are electrically isolated from the square weight block (3). 6. The integrated multi-head fast switching scanning probe microscope according to claim 1, characterized in that: the limit ring (7) on the metal housing (2) is located on the upper side of the entire housing, and the square heavy block (3) is located in the center of the limit ring (7). 7. The integrated multi-head fast-switching scanning probe microscope according to claim 1, characterized in that the inner and outer diameters of the hollow cylinder of the slide rod (6) and the hollow cylinder of the housing are equal. 8. The integrated multi-head fast-switching scanning probe microscope according to claim 1, characterized in that: the slide rod (6) and the bottom insulating ring (8) of the shared inertia motor (1) pass through a pair of spring plates (4 ) elastic connection. 9. The integrated multi-head fast-switching scanning probe microscope according to claim 1, characterized in that the sliding rod (6) is set to be transparent. 10. An integrated multi-head fast-switching scanning probe microscope scanning method, characterized by: including the following steps: (1) The inner electrode of the transverse inertia motor is grounded, and the four outer electrodes are controlled to swing the square weight block above it to move in the XY plane until it is at the corresponding corner of the limit ring. At this time, there will be a corresponding scanning head and a common The inertia motor is coaxial, that is, it is in the center of the common inertia motor, which is directly below the sample; (2) The four outer electrodes of the longitudinal inertia motor are connected together, and the inner electrode is grounded. A slowly extending voltage signal is applied to the outer electrode of the motor. At this time, the bottom of the motor will move downward together with the slide rod, and then a rapid shortening signal is given to the motor. , the bottom of the motor will shorten, and the slide rod will move one step downward relative to the motor due to inertia. The slide rod and the sample will approach the probe. Repeat step (1) until the STM probe reaches the sample surface; (3) When the probe reaches the sample surface, the four external electrodes of the scanning head are controlled to apply scanning signals to scan the sample; (4) After scanning, if you need to replace other scan heads, you can control the longitudinal inertia motor and the scan head to move away from the sample. The bottom of the shared inertia motor moves upward together with the slide bar to give the shared inertia motor a rapid extension signal. The bottom of the shared inertia motor will extend, the slide rod moves upward relative to the motor due to inertia, and the slide rod together with the sample moves away from the probe; (5) When it is far enough, control the transverse inertia motor to swing the square weight block above it to move in the XY plane, for example, in the +X and -Y directions until it is at the corresponding corner of the limit ring. At this time, the corresponding The scan head (such as this one is coaxial with a shared inertia motor; (6) Repeat the above steps (2) and (3), send the AFM scanning head and probe to the sample surface, and scan accordingly.