1. Points per Line: Presently only the Follow Lines option is enabled. The R9 data collection system is
not based on pixels, but rather on time. That means that interactions of the probe and the surface are
measured at a constant interval that can vary from milliseconds to microseconds, depending on the
experiment. For display and visualization purposes, this "time" data is converted to "pixel" data in post-
processing. The points per line parameter selects how many pixels the time data is converted into. The
most common setting is Follow Lines, which means there will be as many pixels in a line as there are
lines in the image. The raw "time" data, which we call the "History" is stored in a subdirectory of where
the pixelated data is stored, available for deeper analysis when the need arises.
2. Slow Scan Disabled: This parameter disables the scanning in the Y direction. When selected, an
image will be built up of lines repeatedly rescanning the first scan line of the image. This is useful to
quickly characterize the drift of the microscope. With no drift in the microscope, each scan line will be
the same and the image will contain vertical stripes. Any deviation in the vertical stripe will be due to
microscope drift.
3. Scan Direction: This parameter has two choices:
• Top down only: Probe will always scan the image line by line from the top to the bottom. When the
bottom of the image is reached, the probe will scan up the Y axis to the beginning of the image and
again start to scan line by line to the bottom.
• Alternating Scan Direction: Probe will first scan the image line by line from the top to the bottom.
When the last line is scanned, the scan will then begin line by line from the bottom of the image to
the top.
4. Record One Scan Direction: This parameter selects if data is to be acquired in only the forward scan
direction or in both the forward and reverse scan directions.
5. Tip Standby Position: This parameter selects the position of the probe when the microscope is not
scanning. The choices are:
• Image Start: When not scanning, the probe will move to the origin of the image, which is the top
right corner of the image when scan rotation is set to zero degrees.
• Image Center: When not scanning, the probe will move to the center of the image.
• Scanner Zero: When not scanning, the probe will move to the center of the scan area, which
represents zero volts applied to the X and Y scan sectors of the piezo tube. The voltage applied to
other types of piezo scanners may not be zero volts at this setting.
6. Time per Pixel: This parameter is used for Image+Spectroscopy to control how long the tip averages
topographic data at each pixel to be imaged.
7. Delay Between Images: This parameter allows a delay to be inserted between images. It is useful to
allow piezo creep to decay when scanning Top Down Only, as well as to space images that will be
turned into a movie.
8. Scan Count: This parameter selects how many images are to be acquired when the scan start button
is pressed. If Single is selected, only one image will be acquired and the system will then move to
standby. If the parameter is set to Continuous, the number of images in the box will be acquired
before the system moves to standby.
9. Image Count: The number of images that have been acquired continuously will be shown. The
imaging loop will stop when the Image Count equals the Scan Count.
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