Influence of atomic force microscope (AFM) probe shape on adhesion force measured in humidity environment

Abstract

In micro-manipulation, the adhesion force has very important influence on behaviors of micro-objects. Here, a theoretical study on the effects of humidity on the adhesion force is presented between atomic force microscope (AFM) tips and substrate. The analysis shows that the precise tip geometry plays a critical role on humidity dependence of the adhesion force, which is the dominant factor in manipulating micro-objects in AFM experiments. For a blunt (paraboloid) tip, the adhesion force versus humidity curves tends to the apparent contrast (peak-to-valley corrugation) with a broad range. This paper demonstrates that the abrupt change of the adhesion force has high correlation with probe curvatures, which is mediated by coordinates of solid-liquid-vapor contact lines (triple point) on the probe profiles. The study provides insights for further understanding nanoscale adhesion forces and the way to choose probe shapes in manipulating micro-objects in AFM experiments.