Other Members of the SPM Family

Abstract

In this chapter, some other members of the scanning probe microscopy family are briefly described. All probe microscopes are based upon probing tips, but some tips are rather different from standard STM tips. Methods such as scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM), scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) or photoemission microscopy with scanning aperture (PEMSA), are based on tips with apertures, where light, ions or electrons can pass through. The scanning near-field acoustic microscope (SNAM) is the acoustic analogue of the SNOM. Other methods essentially depend on a standard STM feedback and measure outcoming radiation, as in the case of STM with inverse photoemission (STMiP), or measure the influence of incoming light on the tunneling current, as in the case of laser STM (LSTM), or measure the temperature of the tip, as in the case of scanning thermal microscopy (SThM), or perform measurements in an electrolyte, as in the case of electrochemical STM (ECSTM). In scanning noise microscopy (SNM), the noise of the tunneling current is measured at a compensated thermovoltage. In scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM), the capacitance between probing tip and sample is measured. In scanning potentiometry microscopy (SPotM), the electrical potential, which depends on the resistivity of the sample, is measured. In scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SSRM), the spreading resistance is monitored. Finally, scanning tunneling atom probe (STAP) is an example of the combination of STM with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, where the mass of single ions from the probing tip can be analyzed.