High Resolution Imaging and Measurement at Nanoscale by Scanning Probe Microscopy

“Scanning Probe Microscopy” (SPM) is a term indicating a broad class of powerful techniques enabling imaging, measurement and manipulation at nanoscale. SPM includes a growing number of new techniques, sharing the idea of raster scanning a probe across a surface while recording shortrange interactions. In this talk a general background of SPM is summarized, highlighting some of the most recent and promising advances. Among the new techniques, a special emphasis is devoted to Near Field Microwave Microscopy, an approach where evanescent electromagnetic fields are used to probe surfaces and subsurface structures. Such approach is rapidly becoming a new paradigm not only in imaging, but also in nanoscale metrology.