December 1, 2007 (Vol. 27, No. 21)

URL:

http://www.physics.leidenuniv.nl/sections/cm/ip/group/Principle_of_SPM.htm

Rating:

Strong Points: Good technical descriptions

Weak Points: Very techie

Summary:

A theme of this month’s column is education. Most of the sites I’ve covered this month have a strong educational component and Principle of Scanning Probe Microscopy is no exception. With content aimed solely at scientists, the site explains the technical considerations in scanning tunneling microscopes. As you see in the URL, the root source of the information is a physics department at the University of Leiden, so you can expect the material will be at a high level and dense. It is. It is also understandable. I’m not a physicist by any stretch, but reading through the material I came away with a much better understanding of how these powerful instruments work.