Patent ID: 7614288

Claim:
A scanning probe microscope having a stage to put a sample thereon and a probe to be placed in proximity to or in contact with a surface of the sample, comprising: an illuminator and an objective lens opposingly aligned with each other along an optical path; a probe fine-movement mechanism comprising a first driver responsive to a first voltage input to finely move the probe in X and Y directions with respect to the sample, wherein the probe fine-movement mechanism is formed with a light transmissive section through which the optical path runs and attached with the probe positioned in the optical path, such that the light transmissive section of the probe fine-movement mechanism, with light from the illuminator passing therethrough, enables a direct observation of the illuminated probe via the objective lens; and a stage fine-movement mechanism comprising a second driver responsive to a second voltage input to finely move the stage in a Z direction with respect to the sample, the stage fine-movement mechanism being arranged such that the stage fine-movement mechanism and the probe fine-movement mechanism are kinetically independent from each other, wherein the stage has a light transmissive section through which the optical path runs, and the sample is held by the stage in the optical path, such that the light transmissive section of the stage, with the light from the illuminator passing therethrough, enables a direct observation of the illuminated sample via the objective lens, and the stage fine-movement mechanism comprises a mechanism body configured to convert movements of the second driver in an X-Y plane to movements of the stage in the Z direction.