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No other method has opened the door to progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology as much as the introduction of scanning probe methods did in the 1980s, since they offer a way to visualize the nanoworld. For maximum impact, however, the ability to image and manipulate individual atoms is the key. Initially, scanning tunneling microscopy was the only scanningprobe-based method that was able to ...

A mode of atomic force microscopy AFM is demonstrated where an oscillating AFM cantilever having linear response is driven with two frequencies in the vicinity of a resonance. New frequencies in the response, known as intermodulation products, are generated when the linearity of the cantilever response is perturbed by the nonlinear tip-surface interaction. A rich structure of the intermodulatio...

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Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has revolutionised high resolution imaging of a wide range of samples. With the introduction of atomic force microscopy (AFM) high resolution images can be obtained without the need for the sample to be placed in a vacuum chamber. Furthermore, modern AFM systems are capable of producing high quality images of samples immersed in a wide range of liquids. Atomic Fo...

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is a member of the family of Scanning Probe Microscopy, together with the Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and the Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM). Unlike them, however, it is also a descendent of a popular instrument from the pre-superresolution era, the Stylus Profilometer (SP). The probe tip in the AFM is analogous to the stylus in the SP, with ...

The basic principles of atomic force microscopy are discussed. Various deflection sensors are described and compared with each other. A simple theoretical basis of the fundamental forces, such as van der Waals, electrostatic, magnetic, capillary, ionic repulsion and frictional forces, is given and the relevant experimental work is summarized.

A new in-process atomic-force microscopy (AFM) based inspection is presented for nanolithography to compensate for any deviation such as instantaneous degradation of the lithography probe tip. Traditional method used the AFM probes for lithography work and retract to inspect the obtained feature but this practice degrades the probe tip shape and hence, affects the measurement quality. This pape...