Ionic crystals are among the simplest structures in nature. They can be easily cleaved in air and in vacuum, and the resulting surfaces are atomically flat on areas hundreds of nanometers wide. With the development of scanning probe microscopy, these surfaces have become an ideal "playground" to investigate several phenomena occurring on the nanometer scale. This book focuses on the fundamental studies of atomically resolved imaging, nanopatterning, metal deposition, molecular self-assembling and nanotribological processes occurring on ionic crystal surfaces. Here, a significant variety of structures are created by nanolithography, annealing and irradiation by electrons, ions or photons, and are used to confine metal particles and organic molecules or to improve our basic understanding of friction and wear on the atomic scale. Metal oxides with wide band gap are also discussed. Altogether, the results obtained so far will have an undoubted impact on the future development of nanoelectronics and nanomechanics.

This book provides an updated review on the development of scanning probe microscopy and related techniques, and the availability of computational techniques not even imaginable a few decades ago. The 36 chapters cover instrumental aspects, theoretical models and selected experimental results, thus offering a broad panoramic view on fundamental issues in nanotribology which are currently being investigated. Compared to the first edition, several topics have been added, including triboluminescence, graphene mechanics, friction and wear in liquid environments, capillary condensation, and multiscale friction modeling. Particular care has been taken to avoid overlaps and guarantee the independence of the chapters. In this way, our book aims to become a key reference on this subject for the next five to ten years to come.

Combining the classical theories of contact mechanics and lubrication with the study of friction on the nanometer range, this multi-scale book for researchers and students alike guides the reader deftly through the mechanisms governing friction processes, based on state-of-the-art models and experimental results. The first book in the field to incorporate recent research on nanotribology with classical theories of contact mechanics, this unique text explores atomic scale scratches, non-contact friction and fishing of molecular nanowires as observed in the lab. Beginning with simple key concepts, the reader is guided through progressively more complex topics, such as contact of self-affine surfaces and nanomanipulation, in a consistent style, encompassing both macroscopic and atomistic descriptions of friction, and using unified notations to enable use by physicists and engineers across the scientific community.