DESIGN OF A BEETLE-TYPE ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPE USING THE BEAM DEFLECTION TECHNIQUE

In the present article we describe a new setup for an atomic force mic roscope in the beetle-type geometry. The microscope consists of a comp act head standing on three piezo legs with a fourth central piezo carr ying the cantilever tip. We use the laser beam deflection method to de tect the deflection of the cantilever. All optical components are inte grated into the microscope head which has a diameter of 40 mm. This co mpactness results in a high mechanical stability, while the adjustment of the optical pathway is still easy to handle. The microscope can be used in UHV and in air. Measurements on KBr(100) in air show the capa bility of the microscope to obtain a resolution up to atomic corrugati ons. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.