Scanning probe microscopy

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is a new branch of microscopy that forms images of surfaces using a physical probe that scans the specimen. An image of the surface is obtained by mechanically moving the probe in a raster scan of the specimen, line by line, and recording the probe-surface interaction as a function of position. SPM was founded with the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope in 1981.

Many scanning probe microscopes can image several interactions simultaneously. The manner of using these interactions to obtain an image is generally called a mode.

Established types of scanning probe microscopy

 * AFM, atomic force microscopy
 * contact AFM
 * non-contact AFM
 * dynamic contact AFM
 * EFM, electrostatic force microscope
 * ESTM electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope
 * FMM, force modulation microscopy
 * KPFM, kelvin probe force microscopy
 * MFM, magnetic force microscopy
 * MRFM, magnetic resonance force microscopy
 * NSOM, near-field scanning optical microscopy (or SNOM, scanning near-field optical microscopy)
 * PSTM, photon scanning tunneling microscopy
 * PTMS, photothermal microspectroscopy/microscopy
 * SECM, scanning electrochemical microscopy
 * SCM, scanning capacitance microscopy
 * SGM, scanning gate microscopy
 * SICM, scanning ion-conductance microscopy
 * SPSM spin polarized scanning tunneling microscopy
 * SThM, scanning thermal microscopy
 * STM, scanning tunneling microscopy
 * SVM, scanning voltage microscopy
 * SHPM, scanning Hall probe microscopy

Advantages of scanning probe microscopy

 * The resolution of the microscopes is not limited by diffraction, but only by the size of the probe-sample interaction volume (i.e., point spread function), which can be as small as a few picometres.
 * The interaction can be used to modify the sample to create small structures (nanolithography).

Disadvantages of scanning probe microscopy

 * The scanning techniques are generally slower in acquiring images, due to the scanning process. As a result, efforts are being made to greatly improve the scanning rate.


 * The maximum image size is generally smaller.

Atomic Force Microscope Manufacturers

 * Surface Imaging Systems
 * Asylum Research - Science First
 * NT-MDT - animations about SPM principles

Programs

 * XPMPro™ - Data acquisition, image processing and analysis from RHK Technology, Inc.
 * SPIP - Scanning Probe Image Processor.
 * Gwyddion (image data analysis program) - http://gwyddion.net/ - A Software Framework for SPM Data Analysis.
 * GXSM - Gnome X Scanning Microscopy.
 * WSxM - Free software for Scanning Probe Microscopy images analysis and representation