Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are
powerful tools for the examination of surfaces. The research, development, and application
of the STM and AFM methods are currently making rapid progress. As a
result, a large number of papers are being published every year on diverse subjects,
from theory to experiment as well as on applications to a variety of materials. This
makes it rather difficult for an individual to keep up with such fast development. The
physical concepts employed in the instrumentation of STM and AFM are simple, but
the interpretation of the STM and AFM results can be complicated because of the
convolution of several interactions in the measurement process. This complication
exists in the large-scale imaging of surface morphology as well as in the molecularand
atomic-scale images. Thus, many STM and AFM studies can be misinterpreted.
To help to alleviate this problem, we felt it necessary to bring together into a book
the essential components of STM and AFM studies, namely the practical aspects of
STM and AFM, the image simulation by surface electron density plot calculations,
and the qualitative evaluation of tip force induced surface corrugations.