As the characteristic dimensions of electronic devices continue to shrink, the ability to characterize their electronic properties at the nanometer scale has come to be of outstanding importance. In this sense, Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) is becoming an indispensable tool, playing a key role in nanoscience and nanotechnology. SPM is opening new opportunities to measure semiconductor electronic properties with unprecedented spatial resolution. SPM is being successfully applied for nanoscale characterization of ferroelectric thin films. In the area of functional molecular materials it is being used as a probe to contact molecular structures in order to characterize their electrical properties, as a manipulator to assemble nanoparticles and nanotubes into simple devices, and as a tool to pattern molecular nanostructures. This book provides in-depth information on new and emerging applications of SPM to the field of materials science, namely in the areas of characterisation, device application and nanofabrication of functional materials. Starting with the general properties of functional materials the authors present an updated overview of the fundamentals of Scanning Probe Techniques and the application of SPM techniques to the characterization of specified functional materials such as piezoelectric and ferroelectric and to the fabrication of some nano electronic devices. Its uniqueness is in the combination of the fundamental nanoscale research with the progress in fabrication of realistic nanodevices. By bringing together the contribution of leading researchers from the materials science and SPM communities, relevant information is conveyed that allows researchers to learn more about the actual developments in SPM applied to functional materials. This book will contribute to the continuous education and development in the field of nanotechnology.

Fundamentals of Functional Materials.- Functional Materials: Properties, Processing and Applications.- Scaling of Silicon-Based Devices to Submicron Dimensions.- Unsolved Problems in Ferroelectrics for Scanning Probe Microscopy.- Fundamentals of Scanning Probe Techniques.- Principles of Basic and Advanced Scanning Probe Microscopy.- Nanoscale Probing of Physical and Chemical Functionality with Near-Field Optical Microscopy.- Nanoscale Electronic Measurements of Semiconductors Using Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy.- Expanding the Capabilities of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope.- Functions of NC-AFM on Atomic Scale.- Application of Scanning Techniques to Functional Materials.- Scanning Probe Microscopy of Piezoelectric and Transport Phenomena in Electroceramic Materials.- SFM-Based Methods for Ferroelectric Studies.- Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy.- Nanoinspection of Dielectric and Polarization Properties at Inner and Outer Interfaces in Functional Ferroelectric PZT Thin Films.- Microscale Contact Charging on a Silicon Oxide.- Constructive Nanolithography.- Nanometer-Scale Electronics and Storage.- Contributed papers.- Stm Tips Fabrication for Critical Dimension Measurements.- Scanning Probe Microscopy Characterization of Ferroelectrics Domains and Domains Walls in KTiOPO4.- Imaging Local Dielectric and Mechanical Responses with Dynamic Heterodyned Electrostatic Force Microscopy.- AFM Patterning of SrTiO3?? Thin Films and Device Applications.- Nanoscale Investigation of a Rayleigh Wave on LiNbO3.- Scanning Capacitance Force Microscopy and Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy of Nanostructures Embedded in SiO2.- Electrical Characterisation of III-V Buried Heterostructure Lasers by Scanning Capacitance Microscopy.- Probing the Density of States of High TemperatureSuperconductors with Point Contact Tunneling Spectroscopy.- Annealing Influence on Co Ultrathin Film Morphology in MBE Grown Co/Au Bilayers.- Correlation between the Surface Relief and Interfaces Structure of Fe/Cr Superlattices and Electromagnetic Waves Penetration.- Magnetoresistance and Microstructure of Magnetic Thin Film Multilayers.- SPM Investigation of Thiolated Gold Nanoparticle Patterns Deposited on Different Self-Assembled Substrates.- AFM of Guanine Adsorbed on HOPG under Electrochemical Control.- Dynamics in Model Membranes and DNA-Membrane Complexes Using Temperature Controlled Atomic Force Microscopy.