Digital Control of a Dual Piezo Actuator for AFM

An AFM configuration equipped with two different actuators for the vertical movement of the sample has been implemented. The Z actuator of a 3D nano-positioning stage, Tritor100, is the first element. For the second, faster, vertical actuator PV1 we designed and realized a flexural structure that includes a miniature piezo actuator with about 1 µm displacement range and a mechanical resonance at 7.5kHz . Both the devices act changing the vertical position of the sample.