Parallel scanning probe arrays: their applications

Since the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM)1 and the atomic force microscope (AFM)2, the field of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) instruments has grown steadily and has had a profound influence in materials research, chemistry, biology, nanotechnology, and electronics3 and 4. Today, scanning probe instruments are used for metrology, characterization5, detection6, manipulation7, patterning8 and 9, and material modification. A wide range of scanning probe applications are available, taking advantage of various modes of tip–substrate interactions, including force, optics10 and 11, electrochemistry12, electromagnetics, electrostatics, thermal and mass transfer13 and 14, and vibration15 and 16.