a powerful tool for visualizing and manipulating surfaces at the micro and nanometer scale

a type of microscope in which a small probe, consisting of a tiny chip of diamond, is held on a spring-loaded cantilever in contact with the surface of a sample

a high-powered instrument able to image surfaces to molecular accuracy by mechanically probing their surface contours.

one of the class of scanning probe microscopes which uses a small cantilever with a pyramidal point to interact with the surface of a sample. The deflection of the cantilever at the tip as it is scanned across the sample surface is measured and used to indicate surface topography, the AFM utilizes the attractive or repulsive forces between the tip and the sample to deflect the cantilever. The deflection of the cantilever is measured by the change in location on a split-type optical detector of a laser beam reflected off the back side of the cantilever.

The atomic force microscope measures forces that occur between the tip of the microscope and the sample. Under a certain distance, the electrons of the atoms repulse the tip from the sample. At larger distances, however, these forces attract one another. This method is quite similar to the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). It is interesting for biological research since it can also be used to examine non-conducting materials.

An instrument able to image surfaces to molecular accuracy by mechanically probing their surface contours. A kind of proximal probe. .... A device in which the deflection of a sharp stylus mounted on a soft spring is monitored as the stylus is moved across a surface. If the deflection is kept constant by moving the surface up and down by measured increments, the result (under favorable conditions) is an atomic-resolution topographic map of the surface. Also termed a scanning force microscope. [FS

AFM): An instrument able to image surfaces to molecular accuracy by mechanically probing their surface contours. A kind of proximal probe [ DPP91]. An AFM works by bringing the tip of a scanning needle in contact with a sample surface (the needle has a downward force exerted on it by a spring-like cantilever mechanism)[ TERRA]. The AFM then measures the tiny upward and downward motions of the tip mechanism as it drags the tip over the surface.

(AFM) - An instrument able to image surfaces to molecular accuracy by mechanically probing their surface contours. A kind of proximity probe. http://www.nano.org.uk/vocab_terms.htm

A scanning probe microscopy instrument capable of revealing the structure of samples. The AFM uses a sharp metal tip positioned over a conducting or non-conducting substrate and the surface topography is mapped out by measuring the mechanical force exerted on the tip. See scanning probe microscopy.

An imaging instrument used to “magnify” at the molecular level through mechanical tracing of surface contours.

A microscope that works by bringing a fine needle right up to the surface of a semiconductor and tracing the topography of the material. AFMs are an alternative to scanning electron microscopes as a means of measuring and monitoring the widths and heights of critical dimensions on an integrated circuit die.

The atomic force microscope (AFM) is a very high-resolution type of scanning probe microscope, with demonstrated resolution of fractions of an Angstrom, more than 1000 times better than the optical diffraction limit. The AFM was invented by Binnig, Quate and Gerber in 1986, and is one of the foremost tools for imaging, measuring and manipulating matter at the nanoscale.