Thermally stable probe mount for a metrological atomic force microscope

In the design of the metrological atomic force microscope (mAFM), the commercial scanhead is adapted to reach a high thermal stability. To achieve this, an Invar support for the probe is kinematically connected to the aluminium commercial head. The interface between both parts allow for thermal expansion with minimum introduction of internal stress, while maintaining sufficient stiffness in the design. This paper describes and evaluates the novel design of the thermally stable probe mount. FEM-simulations of the thermal expansion show a minimum impact of the introduced stress on the accuracy of the mAFM.