Numerical analysis of dynamic force spectroscopy using a dual-oscillator sensor

Abstract

A spectral analysis method was recently introduced by Stark et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99, 8473 (2002)] and implemented by Sahin et al. [Nat. Nanotechnol. 2, 507 (2007)], which is capable of performing simultaneous tapping-mode atomic force microscopy imaging and force spectroscopy. Here the authors report on numerical dual-oscillator simulations that are applied in combination with Fourier data processing software to explore optimized spectroscopy parameters for characterizing polymer and semiconductor samples with the above mentioned spectral analysis method. They also describe various imaging artifacts observed in the simulations, expected limitations of the dual-oscillator model used, and trends of the effect of the most relevant imaging and data processing variables on the quality of the acquired force curves.