Atomic Force Microscopy

Since its invention in 1986, the atomic force microscope has found widespread application by researchers who desire images of surfaces at length scales from tens of microns down to atomic distances. Commercial AFMs (and much more, customized, laboratory-built ones) can probe unprepared or minimally prepared samples under ambient conditions, in liquids, and in ultrahigh vacuum at temperatures from 1 K up to hundreds of kelvin above room temperature. But despite the AFM’s relative ease of use, achieving optimum results requires a good knowledge of its operational principles. As a frequent AFM user, I’ve been often asked, “Is there a book you would recommend for students who are new to AFM techniques?” For a long time there wasn’t, but now there’s Atomic Force Microscopy by Peter Eaton and Paul West.

Of course, many other AFM-related books have been written, but they are either edited books in thematic series, books that focus on certain applications or specific operational modes, or books that are heavy on theory but light on practical recipes. Operation manuals are often a great place to start, but they vary in quality and focus on the manufacturer’s hardware, thereby sacrificing the broader picture.

Atomic Force Microscopy provides the basic knowledge necessary for successful AFM operation while avoiding the trap of providing more detail than beginners can handle. It boasts seven chapters, each of them accessible and self-contained; readers can thus cherry-pick the topics of relevance for their specific problems. After a short introduction about the historical background and the contemporary context, the book covers practical issues such as understanding AFM design; working in operational modes; measuring, processing, and analyzing AFM images; and spotting and avoiding artifacts. For readers inclined to explore further uses, the book’s last chapter discusses various applications that illustrate the multitude of measurement options available with AFMs.

The chapter on instrumental aspects exemplifies the kind of information presented in the book. In it, each component of an AFM is discussed in short, easy-to-read subsections that help the AFM novice to see the big picture despite a level of detail that might otherwise be overwhelming. For example, the subsection on scanners explains how they work, how they are typically integrated into the overall mechanical design, and how their deflection can be calibrated. It even discusses the nonlinear behavior of scanners, what that means for data acquisition, and how nonlinearities can be corrected.

One of the book’s main strengths is that it is relatively short—183 pages of text; 138 if you disregard the applications chapter. Even at that length, it might be at the upper limit of what students are willing to handle. However, that brevity means some aspects could not be fully developed. In combination with the authors’ decision to avoid mathematical formulas whenever possible, the brevity leads to what in my view is the book’s most serious shortcoming: its discussion of oscillating-cantilever imaging modes. Those are among the most widely used modes and offer a large spectrum of possibilities on how a sample is probed; but without formulas, they cannot be presented adequately. Therefore, once a certain proficiency in AFM operation is achieved, I recommend further reading, such as Ricardo Garcia’s Amplitude Modulation Atomic Force Microscopy (Wiley, 2010).

Atomic Force Microscopy is a great introduction to AFMs for beginners and, although light on theory, also serves as a good starting point for more serious users.