Scanning Probe Microscopy – Principle of Operation, Instrumentation, and Probes

Abstract

Since the introduction of the STM in 1981 and the AFM in 1985, many variations of probe-based microscopies, referred to as SPMs, have been developed. While the pure imaging capabilities of SPM techniques initially dominated applications of these methods, the physics of probe–sample interactions and quantitative analyses of tribological, electronic, magnetic, biological, and chemical surfaces using SPMs have become of increasing interest in recent years. SPMs are often associated with nanoscale science and technology, since they allow investigation and manipulation of surfaces down to the atomic scale. As our understanding of the underlying interaction mechanisms has grown, SPMs have increasingly found application in many fields beyond basic research fields. In addition, various derivatives of all these methods have been developed for special applications, some of them intended for areas other than microscopy. This chapter presents an overview of STM and AFM and various probes (tips) used in these instruments, followed by details on AFM instrumentation and analyses.