Interaction imaging with amplitude-dependence force spectroscopy

Knowledge of surface forces is the key to understanding a large number of processes in fields ranging from physics to material science and biology. The most common method to study surfaces is dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM). Dynamic AFM has been enormously successful in imaging surface topogra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2013-01, Vol.4 (1), p.1360-1360, Article 1360
Main Authors: Platz, Daniel, Forchheimer, Daniel, Tholén, Erik A., Haviland, David B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/766/25
AFM
Atomic-Resolution
Cantilevers
Chaos
Contact
Humanities and Social Sciences
Microscopy
multidisciplinary
Nanoscale
Polymers
Probe
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Spectrum analysis
Surface
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Summary:Knowledge of surface forces is the key to understanding a large number of processes in fields ranging from physics to material science and biology. The most common method to study surfaces is dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM). Dynamic AFM has been enormously successful in imaging surface topography, even to atomic resolution, but the force between the AFM tip and the surface remains unknown during imaging. Here we present a new approach that combines high-accuracy force measurements and high-resolution scanning. The method, called amplitude-dependence force spectroscopy (ADFS), is based on the amplitude dependence of the cantilever’s response near resonance and allows for separate determination of both conservative and dissipative tip–surface interactions. We use ADFS to quantitatively study and map the nano-mechanical interaction between the AFM tip and heterogeneous polymer surfaces. ADFS is compatible with commercial atomic force microscopes and we anticipate its widespread use in taking AFM toward quantitative microscopy. Atomic force microscopy provides surface topography images with atomic resolution, but a quantitative measurement of the force while imaging has been missing. Now, Platz et al . present a method based on modulating the cantilever oscillation amplitude to rapidly measure the interaction between tip and surface.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms2365