Microscopy Today: Volume 9 -

How do I Visualize a Thin Gold Film on a Smooth Surface
Mary Mager
Published online by Cambridge University Press:

14 March 2018, pp. 30-31
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A question on the Microscopy Listserver concerned using an FESEM to examine a thin, thermally-evaporated gold film on single crystal germanium. It is always a difficult problem to find small surface details or textures on a smooth surface in the SEM. A surface without visible topography looks the same whether it is in or out of focus, and so the method to make sure the surface is in focus is a slow, iterative one.
My researchers like to give me a one inch square of highly polished steel or titanium and ask me to find and analyze the five tiny inclusions somewhere in the middle. If there is a particular feature or area that I need to examine, I find that area by eye or under a low power, binocular light microscope and mark it with a fine, red felt-tip pen.

Precision Attachment of (Silica) Spheres to AFM Cantilever Tips
Shane Huntington, Ms Sarah Nespolo
Published online by Cambridge University Press:

14 March 2018, pp. 32-33
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Over the past decade the Atomic Force Microscope has been utilised in a myriad of applications across many fields of research and industry. One area that has been of particular interest is the measurement of small scale forces. The AFM is capable of measuring electrostatic and van der Waals forces with high precision based on small deflections of the AFM cantilever.
The forces between colloidal particles dominate the behaviour of a great variety of materials. The AFM has been extensively used to measure the forces between planar surfaces and individual colloid particles. One of the key driving forces for such experiments and the corresponding theoretical framework that has ensued is the ease of use of standard AFM tips for such measurements.

Microscopy Today