Patent ID: 9575090
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: G01Q

Claim:
1. A method of detecting a force between a sample and a probe of an AFM, the method comprising: positioning at least one of the probe and the sample at a location of interest of the sample; moving at least one of the probe and the sample to lessen a separation therebetween and cause the two to interact; measuring a deflection of the probe based on the moving step; discriminating a deflection artifact from a deflection due to probe-sample interaction from the measured deflection data by continuously identifying a baseline during the moving step to derive an artifact free deflection and compare it with a predefined trigger force; retracting the probe from the sample if the artifact free deflection substantially corresponds to the trigger force; and determining the force between the sample and the probe, wherein the force is less than 20 pN.