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Scanning probe microscopy

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Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is a 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.

The resolution varies somewhat from technique to technique, but some probe techniques reach a rather impressive atomic resolution. They owe this largely to the ability of piezoelectric actuators to execute motions with a precision and accuracy at the atomic level or better on electronic command. One could rightly call this family of technique 'piezoelectric techniques'. The other common denominator is that the data are typically obtained as a two-dimensional grid of data points, visualized in false color as a computer image.

Established types of scanning 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

Programs

  • XPMPro™ - Data acquisition, image processing and analysis from RHK Technology, Inc.
  • [2] - Mountains-SPM, image processing and analysis from Digital Surf.
  • 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

References

The Wikibook [[wikibooks:|]] has a page on the topic of: Nanowiki
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