Patent ID: 11965910
Assignee: CARL ZEISS SMT GMBH
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. An apparatus for operating at least one bending beam in at least one closed control loop, the apparatus comprising:
at least one first interface designed to receive at least one controlled variable of the at least one control loop;
at least one programmable logic circuit designed to process a control error of the at least one control loop using a bit depth that is greater than the bit depth of the controlled variable, wherein the programmable logic circuit is designed to operate the at least one bending beam in at least two operating modes including a contact mode and an intermittent mode;
wherein in the contact mode a measuring tip of the at least one bending beam is placed onto a sample surface and scanned over the sample surface;
wherein in the intermittent mode the at least one bending beam is designed to carry out an oscillation, and the measuring tip of the at least one bending beam reaches the sample surface only during a portion of an oscillation period; and
at least one second interface designed to provide a manipulated variable of the at least one control loop.