Dr Paolo Baschieri started his research career at the CNR Institute of Biophysics (Pisa) in 1990. At this time the scanning probe microscopy (SPM) group, of which he was part, was building the first AFM used in Italy.
Over the course of his research he has designed and built various SPMs: various AFM and AFM/STM models, a AFM-SNOM hybrid, a MRFM, (magnetic resonance force microscopy) and a SICM-AFM hybrid.
He has created a system based on a digital signal controller (DSP) that manages the scanner and is interfaced with a normal PC to view and save the data. In 2003 in collaboration with the CRMCN/CNRS Institute of Marseille and the NEST Laboratory of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, he designed and built hardware and software for the NANOWORKER nanolithography system, in which a graphic interface can intuitively operate nanowork, either by superimposing a bitmap image on a selected portion of the acquired AFM image or by moving the mouse to the chosen position.
With regards to AFM, a fundamental decision was made to develop the force-distance curves as a method that is more capable of providing information about the specific chemical-physical properties, enabling processes to be studied at a molecular level. Functional maps (of elasticity, adhesion, force of the connection) can then be made, enabling AFM to create the “spectroscopy of force” of a single molecule.