Scanning Probe Bionanoscopy: Methods and Equipment, Results and Achievements

Abstract

Thanks to the invention of the tunneling microscope by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer in 1981, an entire industry of scanning probe microscopy was born, offering unique capabilities and a wide range of equipment for studying substances with subnanometer spatial resolution in vacuum, air, and liquids. Objects from the living nature, such as biomolecules, viruses, bacteria, cells, nerve tissue, and others, have become a particular focus of observation. This led to the emergence of a new field of physical measurements—bionanoscopy, which is scanning probe microscopy of biological objects. The methods, equipment, and objects of bionanoscopy are the subject of this article.