Materials Research

This section is devoted to Scanning Probe Microscopy applications for determination of various material properties.

Scanning Tunneling and Scanning Force Microscopies with many enhancements form the basis of SPM generation. 3-dimensional measuring of surface topography and/or imaging of structural features being on the samples at nanoscale are mature applications of these methods. In addition to topography and often simultaneously, Scanning Probe Microscopy allows revealing a number of mechanical, magnetic, electrical and other material properties. A great many of these may not be monitored and measured by other methods at micro-, to say nothing of nanometer scale.

Reviews on characterization of Mechanical and Electrical properties are available by the moment. Among representatives of SPM family, attention is paid to the methods and techniques in which conventional silicon or similar probes are used. Thus, such a powerful method as Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM) and others are left beyond the scope of this survey.

Reviews on biological applications of SPM can be found in Biology section.