The atomic force microscope（AFM）has proved to be a useful tool to obtain geometrical information of the surface of objects at better than nanometer spatial resolution. When imaging by AFM the micron-sized biological objects deposited on a transparent substrate such as glass coverslip, we encounter the problem that the cantilever tip must be positioned over that transparent object with sub-micrometer positional control. It is quite difficult to visualize that transparent object with the optical microscope built in or externally linked to the AFM head. In this study a stand-alone-type AFM head was mounted on an inverted Nomarski/DIC optical microscope, which allowed transparent objects to be imaged together with the tip almost contacting the specimen surface. An X-Y stage, that can control the specimen position with X-and Y-pulse motors at 100-nm precision with respect to the cantilever tip, was integrated into this inverted microscope. The position of the cantilever tip, which is seen in the objective field of the optical microscope, is adjustable in both X-and Y-directions manually with micrometer screws independent of the specimen X-Y stage. This stage setting allowed high resolution imaging, e. g., of a sample of two dimensional protein arrays prepared on the surface of a glass coverslip, indicating that our AFM/Nomarski system enables simultaneous imaging at both micro-and nanometer spatial resolutions.