Patent ID: 8111079

Claim:
A conductivity measuring apparatus comprising: a sample base having a sample support face configured to support a sample; a probe base; a tweezer member connected to the probe base and comprised of an observing probe and a grasping probe having first and second tips, respectively, and arranged adjacent to and spaced apart from each other by a predetermined separating distance, the observing and grasping probes being configured for arrangement above the sample support face of the sample base in a state in which the predetermined separating distance extends along a face in parallel with the sample support face; moving means for moving the sample base and the tweezer member relative to each other in a direction parallel with the sample support face and in a direction orthogonal to the sample support face to bring a front end of each of the first and second tips of the observing probe and the grasping probe, respectively, into contact with two respective contact points on the sample; oscillating means for vibrating the observing probe; displacement measuring means for measuring a displacement of the vibrating observing probe; probe driving means for moving the grasping probe toward and away from the observing probe to adjust the predetermined separating distance between the grasping probe and the observing probe, the probe driving means comprising a pair of combteeth-shaped parts one of which is provided on the probe base and the other of which is provided on a middle portion of the grasping probe, a pair of electrodes disposed on respective opposite faces of each combteeth-shaped part, and a voltage apparatus for applying a voltage between the pair of electrodes for each combteeth-shaped part; and measuring means for generating a current flow between the first and second tips of the respective observing and grasping probes in a state in which the front ends of the first and second tips contact two respective contact points on the sample, and for measuring a conductivity between the two respective contact points on the sample from an electrical property between the observing and grasping probes.