Scanning Thermal and Thermoelectric Microscopy

Abstract

Microscopy is the characterization of objects smaller than what can be seen with the naked human eye, and from its inception, optical microscopy has played a sem- inal role in the development of science. In the 1660s, Robert Hooke first resolved cork cells and thereby discovered the cellular nature of life [1]. Robert Brown’s 1827 observation of the seemingly random movement of pollen grains [2] led to the under- standing of the motion that still bears his name, and ultimately to the formulation of statistical mechanics. The contributions of optical microscopy continue into the present, even as the systems of interest approach nanometer size. What makes optical microscopy so useful is the relatively low energy of visible light: in general, it does not irreversibly alter the electronic or atomic structure of the matter with which it interacts, allowing observation of natural processes in situ. Moreover, light is cheap, abundant, and can be manipulated with common and relatively inexpensive laboratory hardware.