This paper presents a brief history of scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) and a general insight into an atomic force microscope (AFM), including its operating principles, modes, main components and limitations for achieving high-precision nanopositioning and image scanning. A piezoelectric tube scanner (PTS) is made of a piezoelectric material (PZM) and used in an AFM to position a sample in the sub-nanometric range. As atomic force microscopes (AFMs) are becoming workhorses in investigations in the field of nanometric-range surface profiling of material and biological samples, the high-precision nano-positioning of their PTS is a major requirement for high-speed imaging. The scanning speed of a commercial AFM is limited by the positioning accuracy of its scanner which has the following problems: (i) creep effect in slow-speed scanning; and (ii) hysteresis effect during large-range scanning (which both result in inaccurate reference motion tracking); (iii) cross-coupling effect among the axes of the scanner; and (iv) vibration effect at high frequencies due to its mechanical properties. During the last three decades, high-speed imaging using an AFM has been attempted by applying a suitable controller, using alternative scanning methods or changing the hardware setup.

本文介绍了扫描探针显微镜（SPM）的简要历史以及对原子力显微镜（AFM）的一般了解，包括其工作原理，模式，主要组件以及实现高精度纳米定位和图像扫描的局限性。压电管扫描仪（PTS）由压电材料（PZM）制成，并在AFM中用于将样品放置在亚纳米范围内。随着原子力显微镜（AFM）在材料和生物样品的纳米范围表面轮廓分析领域的研究中成为重要的工作，其PTS的高精度纳米定位是高速成像的主要要求。商用AFM的扫描速度受到其扫描仪定位精度的限制，扫描仪具有以下问题：（i）慢速扫描中的蠕变效应；（ii）大范围扫描期间的磁滞效应（均导致不正确的参考运动跟踪）；（iii）扫描仪轴之间的交叉耦合效应；（iv）由于其机械特性而在高频下产生振动效果。在过去的三十年中，已尝试通过应用合适的控制器，使用替代扫描方法或更改硬件设置来尝试使用AFM进行高速成像。