Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 16: Scanning probe methods I

O 16.2: Talk

Monday, March 14, 2011, 15:15–15:30, WIL C307

Ultracompact nanopositioner for scanning probe microscopy — •Bert Voigtländer, Vasily Cherepanov, and Peter Coenen — Peter Grünberg Institut (PGI-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany, and JARA-Fundamentals of Future Information Technology

The coarse positioning unit consumes most space in a scanning probe microscope. Here we present a new type of ultra compact nano-drive which has diameter less than 2.5 mm and length smaller than 10 mm and can serve as an STM coarse positioning device. Alternating movements of springs move a tube which holds the STM tip or AFM sensor. Due to the operation principle we name it Koala-drive. The travel is limited only by the tube length used, which can be several cm long. The new operating principle provides a smooth travel and avoids shaking which is intrinsically present for nanopositioners based on inertial motion with saw tooth driving signals. No high slew rate of the driving electronics is required. Adding a piezo tube for xyz scanning integrates a complete STM inside a 4 mm outer diameter piezo tube. The use of the Koala-drive makes the scanning probe microscopy design ultra compact and leads accordingly to an high mechanical stability. The drive is UHV and magnetic field compatible. The smooth operation minimizes also the power dissipation which can be a problem of inertial drives when operated at cryogenic temperatures. Furthermore, we use the Koala-drive to design a multi tip STM where four independent STM units are integrated on a diameter of 50 mm. We present examples of the performance of STM’s designed using the Koala-drive.