Around 1980 a new revolutionary method of microscopy known as scanning probe microscopy (SPM) was invented and in a scant ten years, the applications have been increasing exponentially in fields as diverse as surface physics, chemistry, geology, biology, and optics. The development of this family of techniques resulted in a Nobel Prize. SPM is also beginning to emerge as a useful and popular technique for R&D, a quality control in several industries such as the semiconductor and biotechnology industries. Tremendous potential exists for the SPM due to the fact that it is a relatively inexpensive, easy to operate table-top family of instruments available for undergraduate science and engineering education innovations.