Surface Observation Using Scanning Probe Microscopy SPM

Surface Observation Using Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) 

SPM is a powerful tool to study surface properties at nanometer scale. Different from the traditional microscopy (Hght or electron microscopy), in which an objec-tive/lens, or a series of objectives/lenses are used to form an image, SPM uses a probe 

SPM was invented in 1981 by G. Binnigand H. Rohrer, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics five years later for their invention. There are many kinds of SPMs, such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM), and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). All the SPMs are based on similar principles (Fig. 8), although each type of SPM employs a different probe and uses different mode of interaction with the sample surface (for more details about different SPMs, see Ref 7). 

In this section, we will use AFM as an example, to describe the application of SPM in studying the biological surfaces. Other types of SPMs and their application in studying biological samples, including protein, DNA, and membrane structures can be found in Ref. 8. 

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