A type of microscope in which a small probe, consisting of a tiny chip of diamond, is held on a spring-loaded cantilever in contact with the surface of the sample. The probe is moved slowly across the surface and the tracking force between the tip and the surface is monitored. The probe is raised and lowered so as to keep this force constant, and a profile of the surface is produced. Scanning the probe over the sample gives a computer-generated contour map of the surface. The instrument is similar to the scanning tunnelling microscope, but uses mechanical forces rather than electrical signals. It can resolve individual molecules and, unlike the scanning tunnelling microscope, can be used with nonconducting samples, such as biological specimens.