In industries such as bioengineering, materials science, and nanotechnology where highly sensitive equipment and instruments such as Scanning Probe Microscopes (SPMs) are used, even trace amounts of vibration noise can affect the quality of images and data.

There are a wide range of probes used in scanning probe microscopy, and the information gathered can take many forms, including topography, elemental composition, conductivity, and others. In order to record and measure data accurately, the instrument must maintain a uniform distance between the probe, stage, and detector.

Because these techniques are sensitive to environmental disturbance, SPMs generally require some form of vibration isolation. Depending on a number of factors, such as the environment’s level of noise (acoustic, vibration and electromagnetic noise), thermal fluctuations, field of application, and the type of equipment utilized, either passive or active vibration isolation systems are recommended to eliminate AFM noise.

SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY (SPM)
Scanning probe microscopes (SPM) operate by rastering a probe across the surface of a sample to obtain information. There are a wide range of probes used in SPM and the information gathered can take many forms – topography, elemental composition, conductivity, etc. – depending on the type of probe used.

SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY (STM)TS-150 with STM
Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) was the first type of SPM to be developed. The first STM was developed by researchers at IBM in 1981. STM operates by bringing an atomically sharp tip (usually tungsten) into near contact with a sample, then applying a bias voltage to the tip which generates a tunneling current. As the tip is rastered across the surface, the level of current is compared to a reference level and a topography of the sample’s surface is generated. STM imaging can be performed in open air or in ultra-high vacuum chambers (UHV-STM).

STM enabled researchers to look at samples at resolution levels that were never before possible. They could now look at and manipulate individual atoms. It is not an exaggeration to say that the development of the STM revolutionized the field of nanotechnology research. Not only did it provide new capabilities itself, but, by establishing some of the basic concepts of SPM, STM proved to be the basis for a new field of microscopy.

ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY (AFM)Veeco MultiMode on TS-140 - Guelph - 2
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is the most widely used SPM technique. AFM operates by dragging an ultra-fine mechanical probe, called a tip, across the surface of a sample. Instead of actually touching the sample, the tip comes near the surface of the sample and interacts with the atomic forces on the surface of the sample. The tip is attached to a cantilever, which is deflected as the tip rasters across the sample surface. A laser is reflected off of the back of the cantilever and into a detector, which collects information as the probe moves and produces an image of the sample. The resulting image provides an excellent view on the sample’s topography at an extremely high level of resolution. In addition to the original contact mode described above, a number of other modes of operation have been developed for the AFM, including non-contact mode, tapping mode, and force modulation.

The first commercial atomic force microscopes became available in 1988. Since that time, AFM has developed into one of the foremost tools enabling nanotechnology research. AFM has risen to prominence because of its ease of use and unparalleled ability to gather highly accurate topographical data on the nanometer scale. AFMs are now commonplace in university science departments and the research and development departments of large companies. Novel applications of AFM continue to be developed, such as using AFM techniques to diagnose and investigate cancer cells.

By: Herzan
Source: Herzan
Date: August 13, 2026