Making a commercial atomic force microscope more accurate and faster using positive position feedback control

This paper presents experimental implementation of a positive position feedback (PPF) control scheme for vibration and cross-coupling compensation of a piezoelectric tube scanner in a commercial atomic force microscope (AFM). The AFM is a device capable of generating images with extremely high resol...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mahmood, Iskandar Al-Thani, Moheimani, S.O. Reza
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Institute of Physics (AIP) 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/5202/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/5202/1/Making_a_commercial_atomic_force_microscope_more_accurate_and_faster_using_positive_position_feedback_control.pdf
_version_ 1848776460095979520
author Mahmood, Iskandar Al-Thani
Moheimani, S.O. Reza
author_facet Mahmood, Iskandar Al-Thani
Moheimani, S.O. Reza
author_sort Mahmood, Iskandar Al-Thani
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper presents experimental implementation of a positive position feedback (PPF) control scheme for vibration and cross-coupling compensation of a piezoelectric tube scanner in a commercial atomic force microscope (AFM). The AFM is a device capable of generating images with extremely high resolutions down to the atomic level. It is also being used in applications that involve manipulation of matter at a nanoscale. Early AFMs were operated in open loop. Consequently, they were susceptible to piezoelectric creep, thermal drift, hysteresis nonlinearity, and scan-induced vibration. These effects tend to distort the generated image and slow down the scanning speed of the device. Recently, a new generation of AFMs has emerged that utilizes position sensors to measure displacements of the scanner in three dimensions. These AFMs are equipped with feedback control loops that work to minimize the adverse effects of hysteresis, piezoelectric creep, and thermal drift on the obtained image using proportional-plus-integral _PI_ controllers. These feedback controllers are often not designed to deal with the highly resonant nature of an AFM’s scanner nor with the cross coupling between various axes. In this paper we illustrate the improvement in accuracy and imaging speed that can be achieved by using a properly designed feedback controller such as a PPF controller. Such controllers can be incorporated into most modern AFMs with minimal effort since they can be implemented in software with the existing hardware. Experimental results show that by implementing the PPF control scheme, relatively good images in comparison with a well-tuned PI controller can still be obtained up to line scan of 60 Hz.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T14:30:26Z
format Article
id iium-5202
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T14:30:26Z
publishDate 2009
publisher American Institute of Physics (AIP)
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling iium-52022011-11-09T04:05:40Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/5202/ Making a commercial atomic force microscope more accurate and faster using positive position feedback control Mahmood, Iskandar Al-Thani Moheimani, S.O. Reza Q Science (General) TJ212 Control engineering This paper presents experimental implementation of a positive position feedback (PPF) control scheme for vibration and cross-coupling compensation of a piezoelectric tube scanner in a commercial atomic force microscope (AFM). The AFM is a device capable of generating images with extremely high resolutions down to the atomic level. It is also being used in applications that involve manipulation of matter at a nanoscale. Early AFMs were operated in open loop. Consequently, they were susceptible to piezoelectric creep, thermal drift, hysteresis nonlinearity, and scan-induced vibration. These effects tend to distort the generated image and slow down the scanning speed of the device. Recently, a new generation of AFMs has emerged that utilizes position sensors to measure displacements of the scanner in three dimensions. These AFMs are equipped with feedback control loops that work to minimize the adverse effects of hysteresis, piezoelectric creep, and thermal drift on the obtained image using proportional-plus-integral _PI_ controllers. These feedback controllers are often not designed to deal with the highly resonant nature of an AFM’s scanner nor with the cross coupling between various axes. In this paper we illustrate the improvement in accuracy and imaging speed that can be achieved by using a properly designed feedback controller such as a PPF controller. Such controllers can be incorporated into most modern AFMs with minimal effort since they can be implemented in software with the existing hardware. Experimental results show that by implementing the PPF control scheme, relatively good images in comparison with a well-tuned PI controller can still be obtained up to line scan of 60 Hz. American Institute of Physics (AIP) 2009-06 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/5202/1/Making_a_commercial_atomic_force_microscope_more_accurate_and_faster_using_positive_position_feedback_control.pdf Mahmood, Iskandar Al-Thani and Moheimani, S.O. Reza (2009) Making a commercial atomic force microscope more accurate and faster using positive position feedback control. Review of Scientific Instruments, 80 (6). 063705-1. ISSN 1089-7623 (O), 0034-6748 (P) http://rsi.aip.org/resource/1/rsinak/v80/i6/p063705_s1?isAuthorized=no http://link.aip.org/link/doi/10.1063/1.3155790
spellingShingle Q Science (General)
TJ212 Control engineering
Mahmood, Iskandar Al-Thani
Moheimani, S.O. Reza
Making a commercial atomic force microscope more accurate and faster using positive position feedback control
title Making a commercial atomic force microscope more accurate and faster using positive position feedback control
title_full Making a commercial atomic force microscope more accurate and faster using positive position feedback control
title_fullStr Making a commercial atomic force microscope more accurate and faster using positive position feedback control
title_full_unstemmed Making a commercial atomic force microscope more accurate and faster using positive position feedback control
title_short Making a commercial atomic force microscope more accurate and faster using positive position feedback control
title_sort making a commercial atomic force microscope more accurate and faster using positive position feedback control
topic Q Science (General)
TJ212 Control engineering
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/5202/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/5202/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/5202/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/5202/1/Making_a_commercial_atomic_force_microscope_more_accurate_and_faster_using_positive_position_feedback_control.pdf