Combined atomic force microscopy and voltage pulse technique to accurately measure electrostatic force

Abstract

We propose a new method of extracting electrostatic force. The technique is based on frequency modulation atomic force microscopy (FM-AFM) combined with a voltage pulse. In this method, the work that the electrostatic field does on the oscillating tip is measured through the cantilever energy dissipation. This allows us to directly extract capacitive forces including the longer range part, to which the conventional FM-AFM is insensitive. The distance-dependent contact potential difference, which is modulated by local charges distributed on the surfaces of the tip and/or sample, could also be correctly obtained. In the absence of local charges, our method can perfectly reproduce the electrostatic force as a function of the distance and the bias voltage. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the system serves as a sensitive sensor enabling us to check the existence of the local charges such as trapped charges and patch charges.