Nanometer edge profile measurement of diamond cutting tools by atomic force microscope with optical alignment sensor

This paper describes an atomic force microscope (AFM) based instrument for nanometer edge profile measurements of diamond cutting tools. The instrument is combined with an AFM unit and an optical sensor for alignment of the AFM probe tip with the top of the diamond cutting tool edge in the submicrometer range. In the optical sensor, a laser beam from a laser diode is focused to generate a small beam spot with a diameter of approximately 10 μm at the beam waist, and then received by a photodiode. The tool edge top and the AFM probe tip are brought to the center of the beam waist, respectively, through monitoring the variation of the photodiode output. To reduce the influence of the electronic noise on the photodiode output so that the positioning resolution can be improved, a modulation technique is employed that modulates the photodiode output to an AC signal by driving the laser diode with a sinusoidal current. Alignment experiments and edge profile measurements are carried out.