We have developed our controller to run our Scanning Probe Microscopes (AFM, SICM, or AFSEM) in the lab.
We have our home-built FPGA-based (National Instruments USB-7856) SPM controller that is connected to the microscope and opertaed with our LabVIEW-based software.
Controller
The controller consists of:
- FPGA (NI USB-7856)
- plug in ADC and DAC boards for the FPGA
- front panel board
- power supply
The front panel gives access to 8 analog input channels, 8 analog output channels, and 3 sets of 37 pin digital input/output connectors. These input/output channels are used to connect the SPM instrument to the controller.
Software
The SPM controller is connected to PC with a LabVIEW-based software which allows us to operate experiments with our custom hardware.
You can find a brief description of the software in the software’s user manual.