Obtaining a microscopic view of insulator performance

This contribution deals a number of developments in surface characterization methods for insulators with a particular emphasis on so called scanning probe microscopy (SPM) methods with spatial resolutions ranging from microns to nanometres both in the plane of the surface and normal to the plane. In particular we will consider atomic force microscopy in providing nanoscopic topographic information and its comparison with laser scanning confocal microscopy. We extend this by considering electrostatic force microscopy which can provide microscopic spatial information on permittivity variance, surface potential and the static and dynamic behaviour of surface and subsurface charge