Franz Josef Gießibl (born 27 May 1962 in Amerang) is a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and university professor at the

University of Regensburg The University of Regensburg () is a public research university located in the city of Regensburg, Germany. The university was founded on 18 July 1962 by the Landtag of Bavaria as the fourth full-fledged university in Bavaria. Following groundbr ...

Life

Giessibl studied physics from 1982 to 1987 at the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

and at Eidgenössische Technischen Hochschule Zürich. He received a diploma in experimental physics in 1988 with Professor Gerhard Abstreiter and continued with a PhD in physics with Nobel Laureate Gerd Binnig at the IBM Physics Group Munich on

atomic force microscopy Atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning force microscopy (SFM) is a very-high-resolution type of scanning probe microscopy (SPM), with demonstrated resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the opti ...

. After submitting his PhD thesis in the end of 1991, he continued for 6 months as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the IBM Physics Group Munich and moved to Silicon Valley to join Park Scientific Instruments, Inc as a senior scientist and later director of vacuum products from mid 1992 until the end of 1994. He joined the Munich office of management consulting firm

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

from 1995 to 1996 as a senior associate. During that time, he invented the qPlus sensor, a new probe for atomic force microscopy and continued experimental and theoretical work on the force microscope at the chair of Professor Jochen Mannhart at

University of Augsburg The University of Augsburg () is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 8 Faculties. The University of Augsburg is a relatively young campus university with a ...

where he received a habilitation in 2001. In 2005, he obtained offers for a chair at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

(England) and

(Germany). In 2006, he joined the faculty at the Department of Physics at the

in Germany. From about 2005, he collaborated with the scanning tunneling microscopy groups of

IBM Almaden Research Center IBM Research is the research and development division for IBM, an American multinational information technology company. IBM Research is headquartered at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, near IBM headquarters ...

Science 2008)
and IBM Zurich Research Laboratory studying single-electron charges on single gold atom
''(Science 2009).''
and from about 2010 with

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...

br>''(Nature Comm. 2021).''
to help to establish combined

scanning tunneling microscopy A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a type of scanning probe microscope used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, then at IBM Zürich, the Nobel Prize in ...

and

at ultralow temperatures. He was a visiting fellow at the center for nanoscience and technology (CNST) of the

and a visiting professor at

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

from fall 2015 to spring 2016 and at

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

with several research visits 2023 to 202
''(Nature 2025).''
Some of Giessibl's experimental and simulated images inspired the offset print editions ''Erster Blick'' (2000) and ''Graphit'' (2004) by visual artist

Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced Abstract art, abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, photographs and Glass art, glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important con ...

. Franz Giessibl is married and has two sons.

Scientific contributions

Giessibl established atomic force microscopy as a surface science tool with atomic resolution, launching the field of

Non-contact atomic force microscopy Non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM), also known as dynamic force microscopy (DFM), is a mode of atomic force microscopy, which itself is a type of scanning probe microscopy. In nc-AFM a sharp probe is moved close (order of angstroms) to th ...

. ScholarGPS lists him among the three most highly ranked scholars in atomic force microscopy (last five years) and among the 20 most highly ranked scholars in microscopy (lifetime). Together with his team, he even obtained subatomic spatial resolutio
''(F.J. Giessibl, S. Hembacher, H. Bielefeldt, J. Mannhart, Science 2000)''
and published papers on ground breaking experiments, instrumentation and theoretical foundations of atomic force microscopy. Giessibl is the inventor of the qPlus sensor, a sensor for

that relies on a quartz cantilever. His invention has enabled atomic force microscopy to obtain subatomic spatial resolution on individual atoms and submolecular resolution on organic molecules. Today, the qPlus sensor is used in more than 500 commercial and homebuilt atomic force microscopes around the world. * 1992: Built the first low-temperature force microscope for ultrahigh vacuum with Gerd Binnig (PhD adviser) and Christoph Gerberbr>Giessibl, C. Gerber, G. Binnig, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B 1991''
and obtained atomic resolution on KBr with i
''(F.J. Giessibl, G. Binnig, Ultramicroscopy 1992)
KBr has a very low reactivity, yet major challenges such as jump-to-contact of AFM tip and sample had to be overcome to obtain atomic resolution. * 1992: Proposed a mechanism allowing atomic resolution in noncontact-AF
''Phys Rev B 1992)''
* 1994: Solved the problem of imaging reactive samples and obtained for the first time atomic resolution on Silicon 7x7 by force microscopy using frequency-modulation atomic force microscopy in noncontact mode with large amplitude
''(Science 1995)''
* 1996: Invented the qPlus sensor, a self sensing AFM quartz sensor that is self sensing (piezoelectric effect), highly stable in frequency and stiff enough to allow sub-Angstrom oscillation amplitudes (Patents DE19633546, US6240771
''Appl. Phys. Lett. 1998''
. * 1997: Introduces a formula that connects frequency shifts and forces for large amplitude
''(Phys Rev B 1997)''
* 2000: Obtains atomic spatial resolution using qPlus sensor
''Appl. Phys. Lett. 2000''
. * 2000: Observes subatomic resolution on tip feature
''(F.J. Giessibl, S. Hembacher, H. Bielefeldt, J. Mannhart, Science 2000)''
* 2001: Invents an algorithm to deconvolute forces from frequency shifts
Phys Lett 2001.''
. * 2003: Extended version of his habilitation thesis is published in Reviews of Modern Physic
''(RMP 2003).''
* 2003: Obtaines atomically resolved lateral force microscop
''(F.J. Giessibl, M. Herz, J. Mannhart, PNAS 2003).''
* 2004: Achieves sub-Angstrom resolution on tip features using a qPlus sensor in a low temperature AFM using higher harmonic force microscop
''(S. Hembacher, F.J. Giessibl, J. Mannhart, Science 2004).''
* 2005–2008: Helps to spread out qPlus sensor technology to IBM Research Laboratories Almaden and Rüschlikon, leading to measurements of forces that act during atomic manipulation (M. Ternes, C.P. Lutz, C. Hirjibehedin, F.J. Giessibl, A. Heinrich
Science 2008)
and single-electron charges on single gold atom
''(Science 2009).''
* 2012: Introduces carbon monoxide front atom identification (COFI), a method for the atomic and subatomic characterization of scanning probe tip
''(J. Welker, F.J. Giessibl, Science 2012).''
* 2013: Observes evidence for superexchange interaction and very low noise data of exchange interactions between CoSm tips and antiferromagnetic Ni
''(F. Pielmeier, F.J. Giessibl, Phys. Rev. Lett. 2013).''
* 2013: Observes atomic resolution in ambient conditions without special sample preparatio
''(D. Wastl, A.J. Weymouth, F.J. Giessibl, Phys. Rev. B 2013).''
* 2014: Measurement of CO-CO interactions by lateral force microscop
''(A.J. Weymouth, T. Hofmann, F.J. Giessibl, Science 2014).''
* 2015: Atomic resolution of few atom metal clusters and subatomic resolution of single metal atom
''(M. Emmrich et al., Science 2015).''
* 2016: Simultaneous inelastic tunneling spectroscopy and AF
''(N. Okabayashi et al., Phys. Rev. B 2016)''
AFM with superconductive tip
''(A. Peronio, F.J. Giessibl, Phys. Rev. B 2016)''
Multifrequency AFM using bimodal qPlus sensors
''H. Ooe et al., Appl Phys Lett 2016''
. * 2018: Simultaneous inelastic tunneling spectroscopy and AFM shows bond weakening effect
''N. Okabayashi et al., PNAS 2018''
. * 2018: Joint study with John Sader group on well- and ill posed force deconvolution schemes
''J. Sader, B. Hughes, F. Huber, F.J. Giessibl, Nature Nanotechnology 2018''
. * 2019: Review article about qPlus sensors and applications
''Review of Scientific Instruments 2019''
. * 2021: Measurement of very weak bonds to artificial atoms formed by quantum corrals (''Science 2021'']).

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Books

# # # #

Awards and honors

* 1994: R&D 100 Award (together with Brian Trafas) * 2000: Deutscher Nanowissenschaftspreis * 2001: Rudolf-Kaiser-Preis * 2009: Karl Heinz Beckurts-Preis * 2014: Joseph F. Keithley Award, Joseph F. Keithley Award For Advances in Measurement Science of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

* 2015: Rudolf-Jaeckel Prize of the German Vacuum Society * 2016: Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology * 2023: Innovation in Materials Characterization Award of the

Materials Research Society The Materials Research Society (MRS) is a non-profit, professional organization for materials researchers, scientists and engineers. Established in 1973, MRS is a member-driven organization of approximately 13,000 materials researchers from academi ...

(USA) * 2023: Fellow of the

(USA) * 2024: Heinrich Rohrer Medal - Grand Medal by Surface Science Society of Japan and IBM Research * 2024: National Institute for Materials Science Award - NIMS Award * 2024: International Fellow of Japan Society of Vacuum and Surface Science (JVSS) * 2025: Member of European Academy of Sciences and Art

Special Lectures

* 2010: Ehrenfest Kolloquium Leiden (27 October 2010) (Netherlands) * 2013: Zernike Kolloquium Groningen (Netherlands)

References

External links

Mark Wendman nanoscience blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giessibl, Franz Josef Academic staff of the University of Regensburg 21st-century German physicists 21st-century German inventors Technical University of Munich alumni 1962 births Living people Microscopists People from Rosenheim (district) Fellows of the American Physical Society