Patent ID: 8234913

Claim:
Atomic force microscopy system comprising a probe tip placed on one end of a lever arm, oscillating means adapted to oscillate said probe tip substantially according to the fundamental frequency of said lever arm, and scanning means having a time for performing one scan designed to produce a translation between the oscillating probe tip and a surface of a sample so that the tip of the lever arm interacts with said surface, said system comprising: control means capable of controlling said oscillating means to vary the oscillation frequency of said tip according to one or more higher order harmonics of said lever arm to allow the surface of the sample to be scanned within a time period; means for detecting the interaction between the probe tip and said surface; wherein said detection means being is capable of supplying a signal representing data of said surface; wherein said control means comprises an input receiving a parameter corresponding to an operating threshold of said system, to vary the oscillation frequency of said tip according to at least one higher order harmonic of said lever arm when said signal corresponds to a state of said system above said operating threshold; and wherein the oscillation frequency is not varied during the time for performing the one scan.