Scanning Probe Microscopy

Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) is an important tool in nanoscience and technology.

First SPM is invented in 1981 by Binning and Roher (Nobel prized 1986)

This microscopy technique

1. Uses a sharp probe (or tip), instead of laser beam or electrons as demonstrated in Figure 20.01. Hence, no restriction of wavelength.

Figure 20.01: Schematic of SPM set up [1].

2. Resolutions up to atomic or nanoscale

3. Provides 3-dimension imaging