Roadmap of Scanning Probe Microscopy
Since the end of the twentieth century, technology has been developing significantly.
Personal mobile communication began with pager, then personal
handyphone system (PHS), and now into cellular phone. Cellular phone has
already become a third-generation system, and one can photograph, film,
e-mail, and even surf the Net. Cellular phones will soon become a wearable
ubiquitous computer, which can exchange information anytime and anywhere.
Various dream technologies in the electronics field are hoped to be realized
within 20 years as listed in Table 1.1. These were predicted by the eighth
research on the prospect of technical development by the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of the Japanese government
(MEXT) in 2005. Accelerated development of information and communication
fields based on rapidly developing electronic devices is the driving forces
for realization of such dream technologies.