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Science 30 March 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5513, pp. 2561 - 2562
DOI: 10.1126/science.1060014
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Perspectives

ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY:
You May Squeeze the Atoms But Don't Mangle the Surface!

Alex de Lozanne

Since the first prototype was developed in 1986, the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) has become an ever more powerful tool for characterizing surfaces. In his Perspective, de Lozanne charts recent progress in this field, and highlights the study by Lantz et al., who are able to measure the force resulting from an incipient bond between the tip atom and the surface atom and to distinguish between different types of silicon atoms. For the first time, atomic resolution and a detailed measurement of these forces are obtained on the same surface.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)