Any one of a group of techniques including Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM), Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM), Chemical Force Microscopy (CFM) Lateral Force Microscopy (LFM) and Near Field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM) where a surface is imaged at high (and in some cases atomic) resolution by rastering an atomically sharp tip in close, but not direct, contact with the surface back and forth accross it. The measurement of the strength of the interaction between the tip and the surface is combined with the measurement of the relative position of the tip to produce an image of interaction strength as a function of position which (depending on the particular technique) represents surface topography or chemistry.