Active cantilever probes having a thin coating incorporated into their design are disclosed. The probes can be operated in opaque and/or chemically harsh environments without the need of a light source or optical system and without being significantly negatively impacted by corrosion. The probes include a substrate that has a cantilever, a thermomechanical actuator associated with the cantilever, a piezoresistive stress sensor disposed on the cantilever, and a thin coating disposed on the cantilever and the piezoresistive stress sensor. The coating is bonded to the substrate, is thermally conductive, and has a low thermal resistance. Further, the thin coating is configured to have little to no impact on one or more of a mass of the active probe, a residual stress of the cantilever, or a stiffness of the active probe. Techniques for performing topography and making other measurements in an opaque and/or chemically harsh environment are also provided.

The present invention relates to a method for examining a measuring tip of a scanning probe microscope, wherein the method includes the following steps: (a) generating at least one test structure before a sample is analyzed, or after said sample has been analyzed, by the measuring tip; and (b) examining the measuring tip with the aid of the at least one generated test structure.

The present invention relates to a method for examining a measuring tip of a scanning probe microscope, wherein the method includes the following steps: (a) generating at least one test structure before a sample is analyzed, or after said sample has been analyzed, by the measuring tip; and (b) examining the measuring tip with the aid of the at least one generated test structure.

Systems and methods for mechanosynthesis are disclosed, including those that avoid the need for a bootstrap process, avoid the need to build tips via mechanosynthesis, avoid the need for charging tips with feedstock during a build sequence, avoid the need to dispose of reaction byproducts, which reduce the design complexity of new tips, and/or which reduce or avoid the need for multiple positional means and/or tip switching.

Systems and methods for mechanosynthesis are disclosed, including those that avoid the need for a bootstrap process, avoid the need to build tips via mechanosynthesis, avoid the need for charging tips with feedstock during a build sequence, avoid the need to dispose of reaction byproducts, which reduce the design complexity of new tips, and/or which reduce or avoid the need for multiple positional means and/or tip switching.

Systems and methods for mechanosynthesis are disclosed, including those that avoid the need for a bootstrap process, avoid the need to build tips via mechanosynthesis, avoid the need for charging tips with feedstock during a build sequence, avoid the need to dispose of reaction byproducts, which reduce the design complexity of new tips, and/or which reduce or avoid the need for multiple positional means and/or tip switching.

Systems and methods for mechanosynthesis are disclosed, including those that avoid the need for a bootstrap process, avoid the need to build tips via mechanosynthesis, avoid the need for charging tips with feedstock during a build sequence, avoid the need to dispose of reaction byproducts, which reduce the design complexity of new tips, and/or which reduce or avoid the need for multiple positional means and/or tip switching.

A scanning probe microscope includes: a pump light output unit that emits pump light having a first specified phase to a specimen and performs emission of the pump light a plurality of number of times to excite the specimen; a probe light output unit that emits probe light having a second specified phase to the specimen once while the specimen is excited by one-time emission of the pump light; and a scanning probe that detects, from the specimen, a probe signal corresponding to each one-time emission of the probe light, wherein the pump light output unit or the probe light output unit includes a delay time adjustment unit that adjusts delay time from a start of the emission of the pump light until a start of the emission of the probe light.

A scanning probe microscope includes: a pump light output unit that emits pump light having a first specified phase to a specimen and performs emission of the pump light a plurality of number of times to excite the specimen; a probe light output unit that emits probe light having a second specified phase to the specimen once while the specimen is excited by one-time emission of the pump light; and a scanning probe that detects, from the specimen, a probe signal corresponding to each one-time emission of the probe light, wherein the pump light output unit or the probe light output unit includes a delay time adjustment unit that adjusts delay time from a start of the emission of the pump light until a start of the emission of the probe light.

A data processing device for a scanning probe microscope, the data processing device processing biaxial data indicating a change in a second physical quantity with respect to a change in a first physical quantity, the biaxial data being acquired for each of a plurality of measurement points on a sample surface by scanning the sample surface with a probe using a scanning probe microscope, the data processing device includes: a feature amount calculator 41 that acquires one or a plurality of types of feature amounts from the biaxial data at each measurement point; a feature amount selector 42 that causes a user to select one of the one or the plurality of types of feature amounts; a two-dimensional mapping image display unit 43 that displays the feature amount on a screen as a two-dimensional mapping image with each measurement point as one pixel based on selection of the feature amount by the user; and a biaxial data display unit 44 that, when the user selects one of the pixels in the two-dimensional mapping image, displays on the screen the selected pixel and the biaxial data of the measurement point corresponding to one or a plurality of pixels adjacent to the selected pixel.