MNT Technical Background (Hardware)

SPM and Nanopositioning

• Scanning Probe Microscopy by Bert Voigtlander

• Best first resource to read when diving into hardware

• Design, Modeling and Control of Nanopositioning Systems

• Explains all the low-cost ways to attempt to solve piezo creep, prior to the discovery of lithium niobate

• Covers all position measurement technologies except expensive laser interferometers

• PDF published openly by Andrew Fleming on ResearchGate

• IMM rep059

• Excellent textbook on laser interferometers

• Predates Fleming and Leang, was developed as part of super-secret Nanofactory Corporation

Ultra-High Vacuum

• Design and Fabrication of UHV Chambers

• Good short introduction before diving into UHV

• Vacuum Technology Practice Course (Support Material)

• Best guide book on UHV

• The Vacuum Technology Book, Volume 2

• Likely another good resource by Pfeiffer, did not take the time to read it

General Hardware Engineering

• The Art of Electronics, 3rd Edition

• The most well-known textbook in the field of electronics

• Grounding and Shielding: Circuits and Interference, 5th Edition

• Covers the misconceptions discussed in Veritasium’s How Electricity Actually Works

• Radiofrequency systems cannot be explained with “the math of sine waves”, instead through the latency of light propagation

• Clarifies misconceptions about the electric field nature of voltage differentials

• Explains why any two metal surfaces have a mutual capacitance

• KiCad Like a Pro

• FreeCAD Tutorials

• Learn all of them, takes 1–2 weeks of full-time work

• List of Analog Devices Tutorials

• If you dive into analog electronics, you will likely read 50% of the PDFs on this page by the time you’re done

Software and Simulations

• KiCad

• Symbolic schematic organization and PCB layout

• Built-in SPICE simulator for audiofrequency systems that can be explained with “the math of sine waves”

• FreeCAD

• Built-in CalculiX for FEM simulations of mechanical eigenfrequency

• Elmer FEM + FreeCAD

• Good for simulating electromagnetic fields (Grounding and Shielding)

• Teensy 4.1 + Arduino IDE

• Write your own software to control the digital-to-analog interface

• GPUs and AI not needed