An Intelligent 3D-AFM Scanning Process Based on Online Probe Rotation and Adaptive Speed Strategy

Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) has remained one of the most prominent morphology tools for examining the microscopic world. However, the 3D-AFM has several disadvantages. First, the physical AFM tip occupies space and may sometimes obstruct the scanning process, creating distorted results, especially for vertical sidewalls. Additionally, the traditional AFM scanning scheme results in sparser data density along steep surfaces. In this work, to alleviate distortion, the AFM probe is allowed to rotate. Moreover, the scanning speed along the fast axis in a scan line has to be adaptive according to terrain variation. Therefore, we aim to develop and implement an intelligent AFM scanning process assisted by the proposed probe rotation decision (PRD) and adaptive speed decision (ASD) modules, enabling the AFM probe to achieve online rotation and variable scan speed. Moreover, methods for online coarse compensation and offline fine compensation are also presented to accurately eliminate tip shifts caused by probe rotation. Finally, some comparison results will be provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed intelligent scanning process.