The 167th committee on Nano-probe Technology of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Since the advent of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) in the 1980s, the SPM has taken us to a fantastic and dreaming nano world: the nanoscience and nanotechnology have been significantly promoted by using SPM, which is applicable to various kinds of samples with unrivaled achievements. In particular, non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM), one of the SPM family, has unparalleled capabilities with respect to its achievable spatial resolution and nanoscale measurements operated in unspecified environments, including vacuum, air and liquids. In the last decade we have witnessed the enormous rapid progress of NC-AFM with improving performance and increasing applications. It is worthwhile noting that a series of the international conferences of NC-AFM have greatly contributed to activate the society of this field and exchange opinions for future direction of the NC-AFM, which was initiated in Osaka, 1998, organized by Prof. S. Morita of Osaka University, followed by the annual conferences at Pontresina, Hamburg, Kyoto, Montreal, Dingle, Seattle and Bad Essen. In July 16-20, 2006, the 9th conference was held in Kobe, Japan.

In the NC-AFM, an atomically sharpened tip is brought closer to a sample surface in well-controlled manners; the interaction force between tip and sample is detected with a tremendous high sensitivity, which can be served as the index of tip-sample separation and to maintain a constant tip-sample separation for imaging surface topography with atomic resolution. In this conference the various great progresses were presented; the topics covered atomic resolution imaging of metal, semiconductors, insulators, ionic crystal, oxide, molecular system, imaging of biological molecules in various environments, novel instrumentation, characterization of electronic and magnetic properties, tip fabrication and characterization, atomic distinction based on analysis of tip-sample interaction, atomic scale manipulation, fabrication of nanostructures using the NC-AFM, and the related theories and simulations. We have been intensively impressed by the widely spreading applications and atomic scale preciseness as a survey tool for nanoscience and technology. We are convinced that the NC-AFM and related techniques are building a bridge to a future nano world, in which the quantum phenomena dominate and dreaming devices will be realized. In addition, it is remarked that, on the 16th of July, the first day of the conference, a special session on SPM road map was held as the first trial in this field; we had discussed the future prospect of SPM enthusiastically.

The overall success of the international conference of NC-AFM 2006 was due to the efforts of many individuals and groups with respect to scientific and technological progresses in this field as well as international exchange among participants. We hope that all participants enjoyed the activities of the conference and the town of Kobe. This fruitful accomplishment would be indebted to all members of the international steering committee and the local organizing committee. A special issue of Nanotechnology, a Institute of Physics Publishing (IOP) journal, was published to distribute the latest developments presented in the conference.

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