New Frontier of Surface Science Driven by the Scanning Probe Microscope

Probe microscopes are now one of the essential observation tools for materials science research. Scanning tunneling microscope is not limited to surface morphology observations, keeping the highest spatial resolution as an analytical tool with sub-Å spatial resolution in the plane and the availability as a tool for spectroscopy provides the STM a unique standpoint. Furthermore, the possibility of using it as a tool for manipulating surface atoms and molecules was thoroughly pursued. After 40 years since its invention, I would provide some of the amazing innovations that this analytical instrument has brought to the field of surface science.