A SIMPLE METHOD FOR PREPARING CALIBRATION STANDARDS FOR THE 3 WORKINGAXES OF SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE PIEZO SCANNERS

A method for preparing samples suitable for calibrating scanning probe microscopes (SPM) and for eliminating any distortions in images is de scribed. Samples consist of polystyrene particles organized in monolay ers and bilayers with hexagonal-ordered domains. The monolayer is not uniform, but is characterized by areas without particles. These discon tinuities allow the measurement of the thickness of the monolayer in o rder to calibrate the z axes, while the lattice constant of the domain s can be used as a calibration standard for the x and y axes. The nond eformability of the particles after the deposition on the substrate ha s been studied by an optical microscope, equipped for interferometric measurements, scanning force microscopy, and scanning tunneling micros copy. The use of these standards directly as substrates for samples is proposed to correct the distortions in the SPM images. (C) 1996 Ameri can Institute of Physics.