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Dear all,
I encountered last week a very big problem. For some reason the scanner calibration file of the catalyst changed, especially for the Z-piezo calibration. Calibration values that where changed:
\Z range sens: 160.711 to \Z range sens: 154.331
\@Sens. Zsens: V 108.0000 nm/V to \@Sens. Zsens: V 165.2175 nm/V
\@Sens. Xsensor: V 9578.291 nm/V to \@Sens. Xsensor: V 9578.233 nm/V
\@Sens. Ysensor: V 9255.481 nm/V to \@Sens. Ysensor: V 9255.519 nm/V
For the Z this means that the calibration grid z=200nm measured z= 333 nm BIG FAIL!
When I copied the latest calibration file (backup-ed after latest calibration) back to the system it was ok again.
I am 100% sure nobody did a calibration after the last real calibration in May of this year!
The BIGG question now is of coarse how long have we been measuring WRONG heights and why does the call. file change by itself?
You can not see it because the scanner calibration file is saved after closing the program (WHY???), so it has always the "current" day in the properties. Why is it saved after every start-up of the program? For me a calibration file should be only changed when you do the calibration of the system.
Can more people compare there current calibration file with hopefully a backup-ed calibration file after the latest real (BRUKER) calibration? (with notepad++ this is very easy to do!) and tell if there calibration file is also changed?
I will check later what happens when you make the calibration file read-only, but the system is now busy with a lot of people checking results of the last months but I expect this will give a error message!
Joop
Some testing: Made the calibration file "read-only", first test is that it does not have any effect in the system, so I will leave it to "read-only" at least for now!
Hi Joop,
It is definitely not a normal behavior from Nanoscope software to change Sens. Zsens number on its own. The Z range sens number is an internal factor used by the software, which does change every time you use Nanoscope and does not affect calibration.
Can you let me know the exact software version, so that I can try to duplicate the behavior in that version? You can get the exact version by going to Help -> About in Nanoscope. You can contact me at ruizi.chen@bruker-nano.com, and copy tech support at sbotechsupport@bruker-nano.com. Once the problem is duplicated, I'm sure we will be able to find a solution.
Best Regards,
Ruizi Chen
AFM Technical Support
It is the latest 8.15 build R3Sr3.92827
I tried to used both 8.15R3sr3 and a newer version 8.15R3sr5, and did not see the issue with calibration file change. Here are some suggestions:
- If you are concerned with the previous files you captured, you can open the captured AFM files using Notepad, and the calibration information will be in the header part of the file. You can spot-check whether the @Sens. Zsens has changed. If the number has changed to a wrong value, you can use the Image Math function in Nanoscope Analysis to recover your data to the correct Height value.
- If we can find out exactly when the change happened, we can look at the log files at that time and check if there's any indication of abnormal events in the software. The log files are located at the Log folder inside the Nanoscope folder. To locate the Nanoscope, simply right-click on the Nanoscope shortcut, select Properties, and click the Find Target button. You can send the Log folder to me via email (Ruizi.chen@bruker-nano.com).
- You are welcome to try the latest 8.15R3sr5 version: ftp://anonymous@sboftp.bruker-nano.com/outgoing/GPTech/Software/NanoScope_v815r3sr5.exe
Please let us know how it works.
Ruizi
US AFM Tech Support: 800-873-9750
Joop,
We are encountering the same problem as you reported last year : uncontrollable change of the Sens Zsens parameter. How have you solved it?
have a nice day,
Jasmine
Please check that you have the latest software version Nanoscoop_815r3sr8. We have not seen the problem with this version. The trick with making the file read only works but is not 100% save. I just made a batch file at startup to copy the last "real callibrated" file back to the working directory. But now with r3sr8 we are not using it any more.
Hope this helps