Simple low-drift heating stage for scanning probe microscopes

A simple low-cost heating stage for scanning probe microscopes has been developed. The goal of this design is to minimize the drift due to thermal expansion of the sample and of the heater itself both in the vertical and the in-plane directions. It is composed of materials with different thermal expansion coefficients. The key point is to adjust the relative length of the different elements in such a way that the sample surface's position is fixed when temperature changes. It has been proven to drift laterally less than 60 nm per degree and vertically less than 42 nm per degree. It allows one to access temperatures up to 150 degrees C. This stage can be adapted to most commercial microscopes and does not require modifications of the microscope itself. The design of the heating stage is presented with calibration results providing the good thermal stability of the design. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)02903-2].