Introduction
Mechanical profilers create a topographic representation of a surface by recording the motion of a sharpened probe as it traverses a surface. In a mechanical profiler, as first conceived in the early 20th century, the force of the probe on a surface varies as the probe is scanned across the surface. A dramatic improvement was made in profiler instrumentation with the addition of a feedback loop that maintained a fixed relationship between the probe and surface during a scan.  Figure 1: A feedback electronic circuit is used to establish a fixed relationship between a probe and a sample. The output from the force sensor is used to activate the Z piezoelectric ceramic. Adjusting the Zset voltage changes the force between the probe and surface.
|
