Introduction
Metrological atomic force microscope

Since its invention in 1986 by G. Binnig, C.F. Quate and C. Gerber, the atomic force microscope (AFM) has become a key instrument for nanocaracterization. Gerber, the atomic force microscope (AFM) has become an essential tool for nano-characterization. It is widely used to measure a wide variety of surface properties (dimensional, mechanical, electrical, magnetic, etc.) with nanometric or even sub-nanometric spatial resolution. Its relatively simple operating principle enables it to image in media as diverse as air, vacuum, liquids, biological media, etc. This is one of the reasons why AFMs now have numerous applications in research laboratories, but also in the industrial sector, where they can be used to control production quality (surface finish of car bodies, roughness of optics, dimensional measurement of nanostructures or nanoparticles, etc.). To increase the accuracy of the dimensional...