Electronic linearization of piezoelectric actuators and noise budget in scanning probe microscopy

The maximum resolution achievable with a scanning probe microscope is limited by the probe size, by the mechanism of interaction with the sample, as is widely known, and by the electronic noise in the instrument. The evaluation of this noise for the three motion axes of a linearized high resolution scanning electrochemical microscope has been carried through and the intrinsic maximum resolution is discussed. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.