Patent ID: 8797547
Filing Date: 2014-08-05
Classification: B82Y,G01B

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for measuring deformation of a deformable portion of a tethered or untethered cantilever, comprising: a projection system for projecting a radiation beam onto a cantilever; and a measurement system for detecting radiation transmitted through or reflected from said cantilever, wherein said projection system is arranged such that the radiation diffracted by transmission through or reflection from the deformable portion of said cantilever forms an interference pattern without an additional reference beam reflected from or transmitted through a reference surface; said measurement system is configured to measure the spatial variation in intensity within at least a portion of said interference pattern; and said apparatus further comprises a deformation calculating system for calculating a deformation of said cantilever from the spatial variation in intensity measured by said measurement system, wherein the deformation calculated from said spatial variation in intensity consists of a change in shape of the deformable portion of the cantilever through or from which the radiation forming said interference pattern is transmitted or reflected.