Measuring physical properties with scanning force microscopy

Chris Van Haesendonck

More than two decades after its invention [1], scanning force microscopy (SFM) has become a widely used method to investigate the topography and structure of inorganic and organic material surfaces. On the other hand, SFM has emerged as a powerful tool to probe many different functional properties of surfaces with nanometer scale resolution. After introducing the operation principle of the different SFM detection modes, I will focus on the most relevant physical properties that can be locally measured by relying on the mechanical, the electrical, the electromechanical and the magnetic response of larger surfaces and of nanosize materials that are deposited on a surface.

[1] See G. Binnig, C.F. Quate, and Ch. Gerber, Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 930 (1986). SFM is commonly also referred to as atomic force microscopy (AFM). “True atomic resolution” can, however, only be achieved when very specific measuring conditions are fulfilled.