2008/10/01 by Hendrik Hölscher, Hendrik Holscher, Daniel Ebeling +4 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Materials Characterization Techniques #FOS: Physical sciences #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other) #cond-mat.other
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0810.0165
arxiv created 2008/10/01 · openalex publication_date 2008/10/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Experiments performed by friction force microscopy at atomic-scale surface steps on graphite, MoS2, and NaCl in ambient conditions are presented. Both step-down and step-up scans exhibit higher frictional forces at the edge, but distinguish in their load dependence: While the additional frictional force due to the step edge increases linearly with load if the tip has to jump a step up, it remains constant for downward jumps. This phenomena represents a universal effect that can be explained in terms of a modified Prandtl-Tomlinson model featuring a Schoebel-Ehrlich barrier at steps.