**6. References**

Jares-Erijman, E. A. and Jovin, T. M. (2003). *FRET imaging,* Nat. Biotechnol. Vol. 21 pp. 1387– 1395, ISSN 1087-0156

Becker, W. et al., *(*2006). *Fluorescence lifetime images and correlation spectra obtained by multidimensional time-correlated single photon counting*, Microsc. Res. Tech. Vol. 69 pp. 186–195, ISSN 1059-910X

two signals at the end of the chain. This solution drastically reduces the number of reading

Fig. 12. *a*) Sketch of the alternative readout strategy through the rows resistive path and

In the last years, the R&D of SPADs technology has proceeded at great sped. The main challenge towards imaging devices is geometry and process optimization to yield high

On the other hand to make a Time Resolved Camera a compact object available on the market, many efforts have still to be made, in terms of identifying the best readout strategies

The author would like to acknowledge the partners of the collaboration, ST-Microelectronics and FBK-IRST and in particular G. Fallica and C. Piemonte and the 5th National Committee

Jares-Erijman, E. A. and Jovin, T. M. (2003). *FRET imaging,* Nat. Biotechnol. Vol. 21 pp. 1387–

Becker, W. et al., *(*2006). *Fluorescence lifetime images and correlation spectra obtained by* 

*multidimensional time-correlated single photon counting*, Microsc. Res. Tech. Vol. 69 pp.

signals sampling. *b*) Possible readout schema of fig. 9b array.

compactness while not excessively degrading performance.

**4. Conclusion** 

and ancillary circuitries.

**5. Acknowledgments** 

**6. References** 

of INFN that funded this activity.

1395, ISSN 1087-0156

186–195, ISSN 1059-910X

channels up to two for rows and two for columns.


**13** 

 *Taiwan* 

**High-Resolution Near-Field Optical Microscopy:** 

**Electromagnetic Field and Local Dielectric Trait** 

The first optical microscope was made by Zacharias Janssen in the late sixteenth century. Robert Hooke used his own microscope to observe bio-samples and draw these structures on the micrographia in the seventeenth century. August Köhler, in 1893, developed an illumination technique, allowing for even sample lighting and setting the corner stone for modern light microscopy. In 1930s, Zeiss laboratory invented the upright microscope that is a prototype of modern optical microscopy. Such earlier effort to extend human vision in examining tiny objects is however limited by wave diffraction, as pointed out by Helmholtz and Abbe [1]. Namely, in visible wavelength range, optical resolution is about 250 nm. Such resolution limit certainly does not satisfy the need for current development and progress of nanotechnology, in which objects within 100 nm portray unique properties and functions that are not predictable by direct extrapolation from their macro-counterparts. It is thus crucial to extend the optical resolution below the Abbe's limit if we want to further the role

Although both electron microscopy and scanning probe microscopy easily meet the resolution requirement for nanotechnology, optical microscopy provides two unique characteristics that are not possible by them. First, optical microscopy is a noninvasive characterization method and can therefore examine objects in ambient environment or through transparent condensed media. Second, the energy resolving power of an optical probe surpasses the other two microscopic techniques, greatly enhancing its species identification ability in conjunction with various spectroscopic probes. These two distinctive capabilities are promised to more clearly unravel the novel relationship between the size/shape of a nano-object and its property which is essential to the advancement of nanotechnology, if the spatial resolution of optical

A dramatic improvement of optical resolution has become possible by the invention of aperture-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) [2-5]. Viewing through a tiny pinhole, firstly proposed by Synge [6] in 1928, spurs a series of attempts to realize such

**1. Introduction** 

of optical microscopy in future technology advance.

microscopy can reach sub-10 nanometer scale.

**A Sub-10 Nanometer Probe for Surface** 

*2Center for Condensed Matter Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 3Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei* 

Jen-You Chu1 and Juen-Kai Wang2,3 *1Material and Chemical Research Laboratories Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu* 

