Feature-oriented scanning

Feature-oriented scanning (FOS) is a method intended for high-precision measurement of nanotopography as well as other surface properties and characteristics on a scanning probe microscope (SPM) using features (objects) of the surface as reference points of the microscope probe. FOS method implies that during successive passings from one surface feature to another one located nearby, being measured are the relative distance between the features and the topography of their neighborhoods — segments. Such approach permits to scan out the required area of the surface by parts and then reconstruct the whole image by the obtained fragments. Beside the mentioned, it is acceptable to use another name for the method — object-oriented scanning (OOS).