Patent ID: 7472585

Claim:
A method for operating a scanning probe microscope to measure a property of a measurement surface, said microscope having a probe tip and an actuator mechanically coupled to said probe tip and coupled to a position sensor, said method comprising: making an initial determination of a settle height, said initial determination comprising: bringing said probe tip towards said measurement surface at a first point on said measurement surface and at a first speed while measuring interactions between said probe tip and said surface to determine a first surface height estimate for said measurement surface; and determining a first settle height using said first surface height estimate; and scanning said measurement surface at a plurality of points on said measurement surface, said scanning comprising: moving said probe tip to a first vertical position over said measurement surface at a second speed greater than said first speed, wherein said position is determined by said determined first settle height; and measuring said property of said measurement surface with said probe tip, wherein said probe tip is moved vertically relative to said measurement surface at a third speed that is less than said second speed, wherein said determined first settle height functions to provide a reference signal to a controller of said actuator.