An ecosystem for community driven scanning probe microscopy research and development

Modern scientific instruments are intricate systems with hardware, electronics, and software components. To advance the technique, access to all levels – instrument, hardware, software – is necessary. Unfortunately, commercial instrument manufacturers often keep their technology proprietary, limiting access. This hinders innovation, especially in scanning probe microscopy. This project aims to unite the community to share and standardize SPM hardware and software developments. The goal is to establish an open development ecosystem, reducing redundancy in research projects. Existing open hardware AFM projects and early adopters will form the OpenSPM ecosystem, featuring open hardware tools, a knowledge base, global user community, and a sourcing platform for open hardware adoption.