External vibrators - Import export

Operating a scanning probe microscope, where the tipsample force interactions are measured with high precision and at small scales, requires an environment that is free of the external perturbations caused by vibrational and acoustic noise. Just as important is the temperature stability of the microscope in order to ensure a low thermal drift of a sample during experiments. A unique feature of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) is a relatively slow feedback mechanism in most of their modes. Therefore, a large number of experiments such as imaging at the atomicscale, profiling of corrugated surfaces, collecting of local force curves in the force volume operation, among others will benefit from lowthermal drift conditions. A stable position of the sample will also help to examine the same surface region with different AFM modes, making the surface analysis more comprehensive.