Abstract Since the invention of the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) by Binnig and Rohrer in 1982 various scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques have been employed to investigate sample properties with the highest lateral—in particular cases atomic—resolution. The most versatile technique is scanning force microscopy (SFM) where a cantilever probe is scanned above the sample surface. The local interaction force between probe and sample is measured to investigate the topography as well as sample properties. Up to now SFM probes are fabricated in most cases of silicon, silicon nitride or silicon oxide cantilevers where a sharp tip of the same material is attached to the very cantilever. Nevertheless, for novel applications of SFM sensors, e.g. investigation of optical, magneto-optical, or thermal sample properties, testing of electronic microwave devices or nanolithography applications etc., the material choice as well as the standard SFM probe design are no longer sufficient. Therefore we concentrate in this contribution on the development and application of novel probes where the design and the probe material are the key parameters for new applications: To employ SFM probes simultaneously in scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) an aperture probe was developed. It has been used to sample the intensity distribution in the near-field of an illuminated sample and it overcomes the diffraction limits of classical optical microscopy. Another approach for combined SFM/SNOM employs miniaturized optical photodetectors. In this case Schottky diodes are fabricated on top of GaAs or Si tips. Illuminating the tip by light emitted from a sample surface generates an electrical current of photocarriers which is a measure of the light intensity. Thermocouple probes have been used in scanning thermal microscopy (STM) to investigate thermal properties of thin films. The time constant of these probes is limited by the thermal diffusivity of cantilever and tip material. Therefore cantilevers and tips made of diamond have been developed which work as a heat sink due to the high thermal diffusivity of diamond. For the electronic characterization of microwave devices a coplanar wave guide structure was integrated on a cantilever. The probe allows to sample the electrical force between the tip and the device under investigation and thus the electrical field distribution of the device. An operation bandwidth of about 10–40 GHz is feasible.