Theory of scanning probe microscopy——present status and new development

摘要

More than 17 years have passed since theinvention of the scanning tunneling microscopy, and thedevelopment of scanning probe microscopies is now so rapid andremarkable. Moreover the impact has been so great to activate thenovel researches in the fields of surface science and nano-structure science. In this article we briefly review present statusof the theoretical bases of SPM and future problems. In particularwe focus on the theory of quantum transport of atom/molecularbridges and the basic mechanism of the noncontact atomic force microscopy.