With the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope in 1982 by Binnig and Rohrer and the subsequent award of the Nobel Prize, the field of scan­ ning microscopy was given a strong boost in view of its wide range of ap­ plications. In particular, expanding the capability to access nature's foundations at the atomic level is now recognized as having the potential for major impact in Infonnation Technology. This third volume of the ESPRIT Basic Research Series provides a well structured overview of the state of the art of scanning microscopy and re­ cent advances including results of ESPRIT Basic Research Actions 3109 and 3314. April 1992 G. Metakides Preface The IMO Symposium Fall '90, Wetzlar, FRO, October 1/2, 1990, brought together leading scientists and researchers in scanning microscopy from re­ search institutes and industries, each of whom was invited to contribute a lecture which was followed by a discussion. The resulting contributions are contained in this proceedings. Microscopic techniques are used not only for research work in material and life science but also for routine applications in almost any vital section of our everyday life. The demand for coming to a better understanding of materials and their behaviour under different conditions and environments as well as all aspects of human life initiated an ongoing development for improved microscopic techniques.

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Performance and Selection Criteria of Critical Components of STM and AFM.- Investigations on the SFM - Tip to Substrate Interaction.- New Scanning Microscopy Techniques: Scanning Noise Microscopy - Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Assisted by Surface Plasmons.- An STM Study of the Oxygenation of Silicon.- Scanning Near Field Optical Microscopy.- Study of Epitaxial Growth by Combination of STM and LEED.- STM Studies of Adsorbates in the Monolayer Range: Ag/Ni(100) and O/Ni(100).- Molecular Imaging with the Scanning Tunneling Microscope.- Imaging of Magnetic Domains in Ferromagnets and Superconductors by Force and Tunneling Microscopy.- Acoustic Microscopy: Pictures to Ponder.- Real-Time Confocal Scanning Microscope - An Optical Instrument with a Better Depth Resolution.- On the Search for Last Frontiers -Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Related Techniques (Abstract).- STM and AFM Extensions (Abstract).