Project Details:

Classification of Scanning Probe Microscopies

Although high resolution imaging of surfaces down to the atomic level using scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques is a comparatively young field of research, it has gained significant importance in science and technology. This great potential is documented in over 1000 relevant publications per year dealing with fundamental aspects, instrumentation and applications of SPMs. This rapid development has also led to the situation that many new terms, partially redundant or conflicting with each other, have been introduced by different authors. Moreover, since SPMs are becoming a well established part of analytical laboratories, an evaluation of their potential in comparison to other techniques is desirable. Although a number of review articles can be found in literature, they are not covering these aspects in such a systematic way from that point of view. Therefore the goal of this project is a classification of SPM techniques along with an evaluation of the most important techniques from the analytical chemist's perspective.

Project Completed - Report reference: PureAppl. Chem.71(7), 1337-1357, 1999.