Scanning-probe microscopy of polymers

Abstract

Scanning probe microscopy techniques, particularly atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) are finding a rapidly growing number of applications to both synthetic and biological polymers. With atomic scale resolution, segments of individual polymer molecules can often be observed. Polymeric objects as large as 100 micros with nanometer resolution can be observed with AFM although features caused by convolution of the shape of the sample and tip must be recognized and interpreted. AFM's vertical resolution readily provides precise data about the heights of molecules, crystals and other objects.