JP3270365B2 - Cantilever unit attachment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cantilever unit mounting device, and more particularly to a cantilever mounting device used for mounting a thin plate cantilever unit having a self-detecting cantilever to a cantilever unit holder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a scanning probe microscope such as an AFM,
A cantilever having a probe attached to the tip of a cantilever is used as a scanning probe in order to detect a fine structure or structure on the sample surface by utilizing the interaction between the sample surface and the probe. Since an attractive or repulsive force based on the atomic force is generated between the sample surface and the probe, the atomic force is detected as the amount of cantilever distortion while scanning the probe in the XY directions on the sample surface, and this distortion is detected. If the sample stage is finely moved in the Z-axis direction so that the amount, that is, the gap between the sample surface and the probe, is constant, the fine movement signal at that time or the detected strain amount itself represents the shape of the sample surface. become. The amount of deflection of the cantilever is detected by irradiating the back surface near the free end with laser light and measuring the spot position of the reflected laser light with a position detector.

[0003]

As described above, the method of optically detecting the amount of deflection of the cantilever has a problem that the configuration is complicated and adjustment is difficult. Therefore, in recent years, a self-detecting cantilever has been developed, which has a feature in which a sensor function for detecting the amount of bending is provided on the cantilever and the detected amount of bending can be directly output as an electric signal.

According to such a self-sensing cantilever, an expensive optical system and complicated adjustment are not required, but on the other hand, an electric contact provided on the cantilever side for outputting an electric signal and a cantilever are held. For this purpose, it is necessary to accurately position and fix the cantilever with respect to the holder so that the electrical contact of the holder provided on the scanning probe microscope side is in accurate contact with the holder.

On the other hand, since the average replacement frequency of the cantilever is once / day, it is desirable to hold the cantilever so that it can be easily attached to and detached from the holder. Accordingly, the present applicant has filed an application for a cantilever unit holder in which a cantilever unit having a self-detecting cantilever is devised so that it can be easily and accurately mounted mechanically and electrically (97-N-). 1). However, a mounting tool for holding the cantilever unit in a desired posture and mounting it on the cantilever unit holder has not been considered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a cantilever mounting device which solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and which can easily and accurately mount a cantilever unit to a cantilever unit holder by holding the cantilever unit in a desired posture. It is in.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems The feature of the present invention for achieving the above object, the cantilever unit attachment for mounting to sandwich the thin plate-like cantilever unit to the cantilever unit holder, a pair of arms A pair of tweezers having one end fixed to each other as a fulcrum, and a pair of holding parts supported in a cantilever manner on each arm of the tweezers. parts and a pair of beam portions which are supported in cantilever fashion on the respective arm portions to deflect in the extending direction of the arm portions of said configured by a pair of holding portions fixed to the free end of each beam portion And said
Each beam can be held by holding a thin plate cantilever unit.
Make sure that the free end of the
The point is that it is so bent as to be visually recognized .

According to the cantilever mounting tool having the above-described configuration, when the cantilever unit to be inserted comes into contact with an obstacle or the like when mounting the cantilever unit held by each holding portion to a predetermined position of the cantilever unit holder, the holding portion is held. Is flexed, so that contact with an obstacle or the like can be confirmed visually as well as by hand.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a scanning probe microscope using a self-sensing cantilever as a scanning probe. A first permanent magnet 2 is mounted on the upper part of the housing 1, and a mandrel 3 surrounded by an annular groove 5 is formed in the center of the permanent magnet 2. A cap-shaped mover 4 is loosely fitted to the mandrel 3 of the permanent magnet 2, and a voice coil 6 is wound around the outer periphery of the mover 4. The permanent magnet 2, the mandrel 3, the mover 4, and the voice coil 6 form a voice coil motor used for an acoustic speaker or the like.

At the center of the closed end 4a of the mover 4,
The upper end of the spindle 8 extending in the z direction is fixed, and the vicinity of the lower end of the spindle 8 is supported by a middle cylinder 13 by a spring 12. Further, a holder mount 14 is fixed to the lower end of the spindle 8, and a cantilever unit holder 50, which will be described later in detail with reference to FIGS. Holder 5
0 holds a cantilever unit 10, which will be described in detail later with reference to FIGS.

A second permanent magnet 21 is mounted on the side surface of the housing 1, and a mandrel 22 surrounded by an annular groove 28 is formed at the center of the permanent magnet 21. A cap-shaped mover 23 is loosely fitted to the mandrel 22, and the mover 2
A voice coil 25 is wound around the outer periphery of the voice coil 3. The second permanent magnet 21, the mandrel 22, the mover 23, and the voice coil 25 form a voice coil motor similar to that described above.

One end of a spindle 27 in the x direction is fixed to the mover 23, and the other end of the spindle 27 is fixed to a side of the middle cylinder 13. This voice coil motor acts on the spindle 27 in the main scanning direction (X direction). However, a voice coil motor of the same configuration (not shown) is provided at a position rotated by 90 °, and is provided in the sub scanning direction (Y direction). Acts on the spindle. Then, by driving the voice coil motors in the main and sub-scanning directions, the probe 10a provided at the free end of the cantilever unit 10 is raster-scanned on the sample surface. A sample table 31 is provided at a position facing the probe 10a, and a sample 32 to be observed is placed on the sample table 31. The sample stage 31 is set on a sample stage 33.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the cantilever unit holder 50, FIG. 7 is an arrow A view of FIG. 6, and FIG.
FIG. 7 is an arrow B diagram of FIG. 6. In the present embodiment, the cantilever unit holder 50 is fixed to the holder mount 14 via a piezo-excitation plate 58. This piezo vibration plate 5
Reference numeral 8 is provided for the purpose of resonating the cantilever when observing a soft sample such as a biomolecule.

On one side surface of the holder 50, four grooves 55 into which U-shaped portions of the S-shaped elastic electrodes 54 (54a to 54d) are respectively inserted are formed. A comb-shaped electrode guide 53 is cantilevered below the holder 50 so as to face the main body with a predetermined gap therebetween. The comb teeth of the electrode guide 53 are configured such that the positions corresponding to the grooves 55 are missing.

As shown in the figure, each elastic electrode 54 has one U-shaped portion inserted into each groove 55, and a bent portion 57 extending from the other U-shaped portion to an end has an electrode guide. The protrusions 53 elastically protrude into the gap from between the 53 comb teeth. Below the holder 50, a cantilever base 52 is formed. Next, a cantilever unit serving as an object to be pinched in the present invention will be described. FIG. 9 is a plan view of a cantilever unit 10 equipped with a self-detecting cantilever, and FIG. 10 is a side view of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 10, the cantilever unit 10 is formed by laminating a thick silicon substrate 72 and a thin silicon substrate 71, and a cantilever 71a protruding from one end of the thin silicon substrate 71. Probe 10a at the free end of
And a glass epoxy substrate 80 that holds the cantilever 70 so that at least the cantilever 71a of the cantilever 70 protrudes from an end as shown in FIG. ing.

On the main surface of the silicon substrate 71 on which the probe 10a is formed, a detection circuit (not shown) for outputting an electric signal in response to the bending amount of the beam 71a, and a power supply line for the detection circuit and A bonding pad 79 for a signal line is formed. A plurality of wiring patterns 82 are formed on the surface of the glass epoxy substrate 80, and one end of each wiring pattern 82 has a contact pattern 82 a against which the bent portion 57 of each electrode 54 of the cantilever unit holder 50 is pressed. The bonding pad 82b is formed at the other end.

Bonding pad 7 of silicon substrate 71
9 and bonding pad 82 of glass epoxy substrate 80
b and the bonding wire 83 and the bonding pads 79 and 82b.
Is provided with a resin mold 81. As shown in FIG. 11, the end of the cantilever unit 10 on the side of the contact pattern 82a is inserted into the groove 15a of the special case 15, and the cantilever 70 is held in a posture in which the cantilever 70 faces upward and is exposed.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tweezer 40 as a cantilever unit mounting tool according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a front view of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a bottom view of FIG. 1. The tweezers 40 of the present invention include:
For example, a tweezer portion 41 formed of a resin such as Geracon or Delrin (both are registered trademarks), and one end of a pair of arm portions 41a and 41b is fixed to each other to form a fulcrum 41c;
It is constituted by a pair of holding portions 49a, 49b supported in a cantilever manner on each arm portion 41a, 41b of the tweezer portion 41.

Each of the holding portions 49a and 49b is a pair of beams supported by the other end of each of the arms 41a and 41b in a cantilever manner such that the free ends bend in the direction in which the arms 41a and 41b extend. Each of the beam portions 42a, 42b has one end fixed to a free end of the beam portion 42a, 42b, and a pair of holding portions 43a, 43b extending in the extending direction of the arm portions 41a, 41b.

Grooves 44a, 44b having a width corresponding to the plate thickness of the cantilever unit are formed on the surfaces of the holding portions 43a, 43b facing each other by a predetermined length from the other end. Further, in the present embodiment, each arm 4
A pair of guide plates 45a, 45b is provided at the other end of 1a, 41b.
b are arranged facing each other with a predetermined gap along the extending direction of each arm portion 41a, 41b.

When the cantilever unit 10 is mounted on the holder 50 using the tweezers 40 having such a configuration, an operator operates the glass epoxy board of the cantilever unit 10 housed in the special case 15 described with reference to FIG. The both sides of 80 are inserted into the grooves 44a, 44b, and the arms 41a, 41b are pinched with fingers to clamp the cantilever unit 10.

FIG. 14 is a view showing a state in which the cantilever unit 10 is sandwiched between the tweezers 40 and taken out of the exclusive case. In this embodiment, the cantilever unit 10 is in a posture in which the resin mold surface is on the lower side. Be pinched. Next, as shown in FIG. 12, the operator keeps the cantilever unit 10 in a substantially horizontal state, and inserts the cantilever unit 52 obliquely upward from below into the gap between the cantilever base 52 and the electrode guide 53.

At this time, when the insertion position of the cantilever unit 10 is out of order and its tip comes into contact with the cantilever base 52, the electrode guide 53, or the like, the beam portion 42 of the holding portion 49 bends in the direction of the dashed arrow. The displacement of the insertion position can be confirmed visually as well as by hand. Therefore, the cantilever unit 10 is not forcibly inserted even though it is in contact with an obstacle,
Cantilever unit 10 and holder 50 when mounted
Can be prevented from being damaged.

Since the cantilever unit 10 is inserted against the elastic force of the electrode 54 elastically projecting into the gap, as shown in FIG. 13, after the cantilever unit 10 is inserted into the gap,
The elastic force presses the cantilever base 52 side, and is sandwiched between the electrode 54 and the cantilever base 52. Each electrode 54 is a cantilever unit 1
When 0 is inserted to a regular position, the bent portion 57 is positioned in advance so as to contact each contact pattern 82a of the glass epoxy substrate 80.

In this embodiment, the holder mounting table 14 is used.
12 and the gap between the guides 45a and 45b are equalized, so that the tweezers 40 are engaged with the holder mounting base 14 between the guides 45a and 45b as shown in FIG.
, And the cantilever unit 10 is inserted, positioning in the width direction is also achieved at the same time.

[0027]

According to the present invention, the following effects are achieved. (1) Since the thin plate cantilever unit can be easily held in a desired posture, the cantilever unit can be easily and accurately mounted on the cantilever unit holder. (2) If the insertion position of the cantilever unit goes out of order and the tip of the unit comes into contact with an obstacle, etc., the beam will bend and the displacement can be checked visually, preventing damage to the cantilever unit and holder during mounting. it can. (3) Since the guide plates facing each other with a predetermined gap in the width direction perpendicular to the insertion direction of the cantilever unit are provided, positioning in the width direction at the time of mounting is facilitated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pair of tweezers according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the tweezers shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the tweezers shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the tweezers shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a scanning probe microscope employing a self-sensing cantilever as a scanning probe.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a cantilever unit holder.

7 is a view as viewed in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 6;

8 is a view as viewed in the direction of the arrow B in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a cantilever unit equipped with a self-detecting cantilever.

FIG. 10 is a side view of the cantilever unit of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a method of storing the cantilever unit.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a method of mounting a cantilever to a holder.

FIG. 13 is a side view of the holder with the cantilever unit mounted.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a state in which the cantilever unit is sandwiched by tweezers.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 cantilever unit 10a probe 40 tweezers 50 cantilever unit holder 52 cantilever base 53 electrode guide 54 elastic electrode 70 self-detecting cantilever 80 glass epoxy substrate

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cantilever unit mounting tool for holding a thin plate-shaped cantilever unit and mounting the cantilever unit on a cantilever unit holder, comprising: a tweezer portion having one end of a pair of arms fixed to each other as a fulcrum; A pair of holding portions supported in a cantilever manner on each arm portion, wherein the holding portion has a single end on each of the arm portions such that a free end is bent in an extending direction of each arm portion of the tweezers portion. It is composed of a pair of beam parts supported in a cantilever manner and a pair of holding parts fixed to the free ends of the respective beam parts.
Hold the cantilever unit and hold the cantilever unit
Large enough to visually identify its free end when attached to ruda
Ku cantilever unit attachment, wherein a bend. 2. A cantilever unit mounting device for holding a thin plate-shaped cantilever unit and mounting the cantilever unit on a cantilever unit holder, comprising: a tweezer portion having one end of a pair of arms fixed to each other as a fulcrum; each arm portion includes a pair of holding portion supported cantilevered, the other end of each arm portion, the holder mount a pair of guide plates along the extending direction of the arm portions of the A cantilever unit mounting tool, which is opposed to a gap corresponding to the width of the cantilever unit. 3. The thin plate-shaped cantilever according to claim 1 , wherein
-Hold the unit and mount it on the cantilever unit holder.
When you wear it, it will bend so much that its free end can be seen visually
Cantilever unit mounting device according to claim 2, wherein the turned earthenware pots.