Controlling atomic force microscope using optical imaging

1. A method for optically controlling an atomic force microscope (AFM), the method comprising:

acquiring an optical image of a sample using an optical imaging device;

identifying a feature of interest on the sample using an automatic feature recognition technique on the optical image;

acquiring a high resolution AFM image of the sample using an AFM imaging device, the AFM imaging device comprising a cantilever having a tip;

overlaying the AFM image with the optical image at the feature of interest; and

positioning the tip over the feature of interest using the optical image.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

aligning the optical image and the AFM image;

accessing movement in the optical image; and

converting the movement to physical coordinates for correcting distortions of the optical image.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the feature of interest comprises performing edge detection on the optical image.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein overlaying the high resolution AFM image with the optical image at the feature of interest is performed automatically using at least one of feature recognition, correlation and tracking techniques.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein positioning the tip over the feature of interest comprises:

initially performing large movements of the tip using a motorized x/y stage; and

performing smaller movements of the tip using a piezoelectric stage based on analysis of the optical image, the analysis comprising comparing an actual position of the tip with a target position of the tip corresponding to the identified feature of interest.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the analysis of the optical image is at least one of feature based and pixel based.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein positioning the tip over the feature of interest comprises moving the sample in relation to the tip.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein positioning the tip over the feature of interest comprises moving the tip in relation to the sample.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein overlaying the AFM image with the optical image comprises mapping coordinates of the optical image to coordinates of the AFM image using one of direct pixel correlation and feature recognition.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein overlaying the AFM image with the optical image further comprises applying an affine transformation to correct for at least one of stretching, rotation, shifting and shearing between the optical image and the AFM image.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying at least one additional feature of interest on the sample using the optical image; and

defining a sequence of AFM experiments to be executed at each of the identified features of interest.

12. A method for optically controlling an atomic force microscope (AFM), the method comprising:

acquiring an optical image of a sample using an optical imaging device;

identifying a feature of interest on the sample using the optical image;

acquiring a high resolution AFM image of the sample using an AFM imaging device, the AFM imaging device comprising a cantilever having a tip;

overlaying the AFM image with the optical image at the feature of interest;

positioning the tip over the feature of interest using the optical image; and

automatically aligning a laser spot with a predefined position on the cantilever based on the optical image by detecting the cantilever using pattern recognition on the optical image using the optical imaging device.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the pattern recognition comprises black and white pattern recognition.

14. A system, comprising:

an optical microscope configured to obtain an optical image of a surface of a sample, the optical image including at least one feature of interest identified by a user;

an atomic force microscope (AFM) configured to obtain an AFM image of the sample surface in a region of the at least one feature of interest, the AFM comprising a cantilever having a tip for scanning the sample surface;

a controller configured to overlay the AFM image with the optical image and to position the tip automatically over the feature of interest using the overlaid optical image;

a laser configured to direct a laser spot to a predefined position on the cantilever, which reflects the laser spot; and

a deflection detector configured to generate a deflection signal, provided to the controller, in response to the reflected laser spot, the deflection signal indicating corresponding features of the sample surface.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the controller overlays the AFM image with the optical image at the feature of interest automatically using at least one of feature recognition, correlation and tracking techniques.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the controller overlays the AFM image by mapping coordinates of the optical image to coordinates of the AFM image using one of direct pixel correlation and feature recognition.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the laser spot is automatically aligned with the predefined position on the cantilever based on the optical image by detecting the cantilever using pattern recognition on the optical image.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the pattern recognition comprises black and white pattern recognition.