http://www.interscience.wiley.com/ ; International audience ; The development of the scanning electrochemical microscope in ac mode is presented from both experimental and theoretical point of views. The experiments are performed with the ferri/ferrocyanide redox mediator as model system. Based on analysis of the frequency-dependent collection efficiency, diffusion between the probe and the substrate is investigated, and analysis of time constants allows evaluation of the size of the sensing area under investigation. The experimental results are in good agreement with numerical simulations.