Veeco Dimension 3100, Manual

Page: 33 / 376

System Overview
Dimension 3100 SPM Overview
Rev. D Dimension 3100 Manual 13
1.3.5 Cantilever Holder
The cantilever holder is a small printed circuit card or acrylic block that holds the cantilever firmly
at the proper angle. The standard cantilever holder is used for operation in air, while a clear glass
cantilever holder is used for fluid cell operations. The standard cantilever holder includes the
cantilever piezoelectric stack and the electrical contacts to the drive circuits. The fluid cell
cantilever holder does not contain a piezoelectric resonator locally. Cantilever holders include gold-
plated spring sockets which mate with the gold-plated pins at the end of the scanner. There is also a
spring-loaded clip to secure the cantilever probe to the cantilever holder assembly.
You can easily change the cantilever holder on the microscope for different operating modes (see
Table 1.3b ). The standard cantilever holder shown in Figure 1.3e contains a piezoelectric stack to
oscillate the cantilever when operating in TappingMode. The same cantilever holder is used for
Contact AFM but no voltage is applied to the piezo stack.
Figure 1.3e Standard Cantilever Holder
The fluid cell cantilever holder shown in Figure 1.3f provides an optically transparent cover over
the back of the cantilever to maintain the optical path of the laser beam constant when the tip is
submerged in a fluid medium. If the fluid medium was not covered by the fluid cell, imaging with
the tip submerged in fluid would be impossible due to variable surface scattering effects. These
effects cause the reflected laser beam to move randomly during imaging, rendering the reflected
signal useless for SPM imaging.
SIDE VIEW
tip is installed
BOTTOM VIEW
( TIP SIDE )
no tip installed
Spring Loaded Probe Clip
Cantilever Probe Tip
( tip faces down )
Cantilever
Mounting
Groove
( no tip
installed )
Electrical Mounting Sockets ( 4 plcs)