Among the main trends in our daily society is a drive for smaller, faster, cheaper, smarter computers with ever-increasing memories. To sustain this drive the com- puter industry is turning to nanotechnology as a source of new processes and func- tional materials, which can be used in high-performance high-density electronic systems. Researchers and engineers have been focusing on ferroelectric materials for a long time due to their unique combination of physical properties. The ability of ferroelectrics to transform electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical energy into electrical charge has...

Inrecentyears, anew?eldinsciencehasbeengrowingtremendously, i. e., theresearch on nanostructures. In the early beginning, impetus came from different disciplines, like physics, chemistry, and biology, that proposed the possibility of producing str- turesinthesub-micronrange. Theworldwideoperatingelectroniccompaniesrealized that this would open up new ?elds of application, and they proposed very challe- ing projects for the near future. Particularly, nanomagnetism became the focus of new concepts and funding programs, like spintronics or magnetoelectronics. These new concepts created a strong...

Making a clear distinction is made between nano- and micro-mechanical testing for physical reasons, this monograph describes the basics and applications of the supermicroscopies AFM and SNOM, and of the nanomechanical testing on rough and technical natural surfaces in the submicron range down to a lateral resolution of a few nm. New or improved instrumentation, new physical laws and unforeseen new applications in all branches of natural sciences (around physics, chemistry, mineralogy, materials science, biology and medicine) and nanotechnology are covered as well as the sources for pitfalls...

The Nobel Prize of 1986 on Sc- ningTunnelingMicroscopysignaled a new era in imaging. The sc- ning probes emerged as a new - strument for imaging with a p- cision suf?cient to delineate single atoms. At ?rst there were two - the Scanning Tunneling Microscope, or STM, and the Atomic Force Mic- scope, or AFM. The STM relies on electrons tunneling between tip and sample whereas the AFM depends on the force acting on the tip when it was placed near the sample. These were quickly followed by the M- netic Force Microscope, MFM, and the Electrostatic Force Microscope, EFM. The MFM will image a single...

The success of the Springer Series Applied Scanning Probe Methods I-VII and the rapidly expanding activities in scanning probe development and applications worldwide made it a natural step to collect further speci c results in the elds of development of scanning probe microscopy techniques (Vol. VIII), characterization (Vol. IX), and biomimetics and industrial applications (Vol. X). These three volumes complement the previous set of volumes under the subject topics and give insight into the recent work of leading specialists in their respective elds. Following the tradition of the series, the...

The scanning probe microscopy ?eld has been rapidly expanding. It is a demanding task to collect a timely overview of this ?eld with an emphasis on technical dev- opments and industrial applications. It became evident while editing Vols. I-IV that a large number of technical and applicational aspects are present and rapidly - veloping worldwide. Considering the success of Vols. I-IV and the fact that further colleagues from leading laboratories were ready to contribute their latest achie- ments, we decided to expand the series with articles touching ?elds not covered in the previous volumes....

The scanning probe microscopy ?eld has been rapidly expanding. It is a demanding task to collect a timely overview of this ?eld with an emphasis on technical dev- opments and industrial applications. It became evident while editing Vols. I-IV that a large number of technical and applicational aspects are present and rapidly - veloping worldwide. Considering the success of Vols. I-IV and the fact that further colleagues from leading laboratories were ready to contribute their latest achie- ments, we decided to expand the series with articles touching ?elds not covered in the previous volumes....

'Applied Scanning Probe Methods' examines the physical and technical foundation for recent progress in applied near-field scanning probe techniques. It constitutes a timely comprehensive overview of SPM applications, now that industrial applications span many topographic and dynamical surface studies.

The Nobel Prize of 1986 on Sc- ning Tunneling Microscopy sig- led a new era in imaging. The sc- ning probes emerged as a new i- trument for imaging with a pre- sion suf?cient to delineate single atoms. At ?rst there were two - the Scanning Tunneling Microscope, or STM, and the Atomic Force Mic- scope, or AFM. The STM relies on electrons tunneling between tip and sample whereas the AFM depends on the force acting on the tip when it was placed near the sample. These were quickly followed by the - gneticForceMicroscope, MFM, and the Electrostatic Force Microscope, EFM. The MFM will image a...

This book presents the physical and technical foundation of the state of the art in applied scanning probe techniques. It constitutes a timely and comprehensive overview of SPM applications. The chapters in this volume relate to scanning probe microscopy techniques, characterization of various materials and structures and typical industrial applications, including topographic and dynamical surface studies of thin-film semiconductors, polymers, paper, ceramics, and magnetic and biological materials. The chapters are written by leading researchers and application scientists from all over the...