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Scanning Probe Microscopy: Introduction Scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) are a family of instruments used to measure properties of surfaces. In their first applications, SPMs were used solely for measuring surface topography and, although they can now be used to measure many other surface properties, that is still their primary application. SPMs are the most powerful tools for surface metrology of our time, measuring surface features whose dimensions are in the range from interatomic spacing to a tenth of a millimeter. The main feature that all SPMs have in common is that the measurements are performed with a sharp probe scanning over the surface while maintaining a very close spacing to the surface. With most SPM technologies, this produces an atomically short depth of focus such that only the top layer of rigidly bound (chemisorbed) atoms is seen. Excellent spatial resolution can be obtained by using a very sharp probe (on the order of a few nanometers radius of curvature at the end, and with a very steep sidewall angle) and keeping its spacing from the surface very small (usually within a nanometer). These instruments were the first to produce real space images of atomic arrangements on flat surfaces. SPMs are most commonly used to perform very precise, three dimensional measurements on the nanometer-to-micron scale. Until recently, researchers have relied upon other instruments for imaging and measuring the morphology of surfaces. On the microscopic scale, the optical microscope has been the most widely used tool since the 1600s. These microscopes produce excellent images of surfaces that are at least partially optically opaque. They can measure the size of features in the x and y directions (in the sample surface plane) but, except in very special cases, cannot provide any measurements in the z direction (normal to the sample surface plane) in the micrometer and below range. They are also typically limited in resolution by the Nyquist relatio