New approaches for sample-profile estimation for fast atomic force microscopy

The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is a powerful tool for imaging and manipulating matter at the nanoscale. The sample-profile estimation problem in Atomic Force Microscopy is addressed using ℋ∞ control. A new estimate signal for the sample profile is proposed and it is proved that this signal tracks perfectly the profile signal, i.e., the transfer function between the profile signal and the estimate signal is one. Experimental results are presented to corroborate these results. Copyright © 2005 by ASME.