Electrostatic Force Microscopy (EFM) probes ferroelectric regions of a sample surface with a conductive cantilever. An EFM image is the result of two separate scans: one scan probes the topography, while in the other the cantilever is raised away from the surface to the region where long-range, electrostatic force begins to dominate. In this electrostatic domain, the attractive and repulsive deflections of the cantilever correspond to regions of positive and negative charge on a sample surface. EFM gives users an image that couples topography with the electrical properties of a nanoscale region.

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