The Development Of New Methods And Systems Of Atomic Force Microscopy Profilometer

Since the development of Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) in 1980s, nanometer technology has brought great change to people's production and life. Because of its outstanding resolving power and broad applicability, AFM has become one of the most popular detecting instruments in nanometer detecting area. But its scanning scope is limited, only several microns or a little bigger. Such a limited scope causes limited application. On the other hand, in the profile detecting area, various kinds of surface profilers and optical profilers have also been used widely. But they still can't meet the needs of production and research, because there must be some problems in resolution, stability or something else. Face to the increasing needs of nanometer profile detecting, we develop a totally new type of Atomic Force Microscopy Profiler (AFM Profiler).AFM Profiler is a new system and there are scarcely any similar products. It combines step motor with AFM to achieve large scope of nanometer profile detecting. It has not only the resolution like AFM, but also the scanning scope like the step motor. Besides, it has good stability, simple operation and excellent automation.The thesis has seven chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the nanotechnology and the background of this project; Chapter 2 presents work principle of main parts of AFM Profiler; Chapter 3 introduces the project's innovation; Chapter 4 presents the research of whole system; Chapter 5 presents the analysis of performance; Chapter 6 introduces the application of AFM Profiler; Chapter 7 presents summarize and expectation.The research work and innovations of this project as follows:In theory, it brings forward a new system design, which is combining AFM with step motor to achieve large scope in scanning of nanometer profile detecting, and names the new system AFM Profiler system. It discusses some other methods and demonstrates the method which is chosen. It also brings forward some new ideas about profile measurement, roughness detecting and film thickness calculation.We have constructed an experimental setup of AFM Profiler. We adopt fixedheight mode, that is, the probe doesn't move, and the step motor which carries the sample moves. The detecting method of light beam deflexion is used. The control voltage waveform is designed after analysis of the step motor. Switch circuit and signal processing circuit are designed. A link accessory which connects probe part with step motor is also made. The system software has been finished, including scanning control, figure built and the arithmetic of roughness and thickness. Finally, we refit the inductance profiler to detect rougher surface.We have detected a lot of samples with AFM Profiler, including porous aluminum, slick glass, iron piece, MgAl2O4 film, TiN film, copper film. We get many profile maps of high repeatability, which show us not only common profile, but also disfigurement of samples, edge of samples and so on. Roughness and Thickness are also calculated. The results prove that AFM Profiler system is a true innovation, and of great practicality.At the end of this paper, the whole work is summarized and the trend of the project is discussed briefly.