AFM University Introduction to Atomic Force Microscopy by Paul West

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« Foreward
« Chapter 1
 « Chapter 2
 « Chapter 3
 « Chapter 4
 « Chapter 5
 « Chapter 6
 « Chapter 7
« Appendix A
« Appendix B
« Appendix C
« Appendix D
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Foreward: Introduction to Atomic Force Microscopy Theory, Practice, and Applications
Dr. Paul West
I began my career in the field of scanning probe microscopy as a post doc at the California Institute of Technology in 1983. It was clear to me the first time I became aware of the scanning tunneling microscope that it would have a broad impact on many areas of science and technology. After leaving CalTech, I was unable to locate an industrial position working in the field of SPM. In order to focus my career on scanning tunneling microscopes, I started a company, QuanScan, to focus on SPM research and development. Later, I co-founded several other companies including TopoMetrix and, more recently, Pacific Nanotechnology.
With every passing year I am more amazed at the innovations that are possible because of the invention of the STM in 1981 by the group at IBM in Switzerland.

The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is a unique instrument that has the characteristics of a high resolution SEM, a surface profiler, and a probe station. Because of these unique characteristics, the AFM has applications in all fields of science and technology. Many credit the AFM as the tool that is enabling major advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology.
This book is not a comprehensive compilation of AFM instrumentation design and AFM applications. Instead, it is an introduction to the atomic force microscope's basic theory and operation for scientists and engineers wanting to learn about these unique instruments. Further, this book serves as a reference guide for routine AFM operators. All of the concepts that are required for understanding the principles of operation are presented, as well as the information required to construct and operate an AFM.
In the fall of 2004 Professor Martha McCartney of the University of California Irvine asked me to teach a graduate level class in AFM. It was for this class that I began to compile the information presented in this book. Without the support of Pacific Nanotechnology, this book would not be possible.
When future researchers and engineers look back at the probe microscopes used in 2006, they will seem like very simplistic and crude relics of history.

Sincerely,
Paul West, Phd


 
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