Two decades after its invention, scanning probe microscopy has become a widely used method in laboratories as diverse as industrial magnetic stor- age development or structural biology. Consequently, the community of users ranges from biologists and medical researchers to physicists and engineers, all of them exploiting the unrivalled resolution and profiting from the relative simplicity of the experimental implementation. In recent years the authors have taught numerous courses on scanning probe microscopy, normally in combination with hands-on student experi- ments. The audiences ranged from physics freshmen to biology post-docs and even high-school teachers. We found it of particular importance to cover not only the physical principles behind scanning probe microscopy but also ques- tions of instrumental designs, basic features of the different imaging modes, and recurring artifacts. With this book our intention is to provide a gen- eral textbook for all types of classes that address scanning probe microscopy. Third year undergraduates and beyond should be able to use it for self-study or as textbook to accompany a course on probe microscopy. Furthermore, it will be valuable as reference book in any scanning probe microscopy labora- tory.
About the Author:

Ernst Meyer is Professor of Physics at the University of Basel and an expert in the field of atomic force microscopy. He has chaired European programmes for the study of nanotribology and is member of the executive board of the Swiss Nanoscience Institute. His research focuses on scientific questions in the fields of nanomechanics and nanoelectronics.

Roland Bennewitz is Professor of Physics at Saarland University and group leader at the Leibniz Institute for New Materials (INM) in Saarbrücken, Germany. His main areas of expertise are high-resolution friction force microscopy, force microscopy of liquid-solid interfaces, and control of adhesion and friction by macromolecular functionalization or ionic liquids. He has chaired international conferences such are the Gordon Research Conference in Tribology 2014 and a Beilstein Symposium on Molecular Mechanisms in Tribology in 2016. He currently serves as on the Editorial Board of the Journal Tribology Letters.

Hans Josef Hug is Professor of Physics at the University of Basel and laboratory head at the Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research in Dübendorf, near Zürich, where he leads the laboratory for Magnetic and Functional Thin Films. In 2003 he and his team received the Swiss Technology Award for the development of high resolution and quantitative magnetic force microscopy. His main areas of expertise are magnetism and magnetic thin film systems and scanning force microscopy with a particular emphasis on magnetic force microscopy.