Determining amplitude and tilt of a lateral force microscopy sensor

Abstract

In lateral force microscopy (LFM), implemented as frequency-modulation atomic force microscopy, the tip oscillates parallel to the surface. Existing amplitude calibration methods are not applicable for mechanically excited LFM sensors at low temperature. Moreover, a slight angular offset of the oscillation direction (tilt) has a significant influence on the acquired data. To determine the amplitude and tilt we make use of the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) channel and acquire data without and with oscillation of the tip above a local surface feature. We use a full two-dimensional current map of the STM data without oscillation to simulate data for a given amplitude and tilt. Finally, the amplitude and tilt are determined by fitting the simulation output to the data with oscillation.