2014/02/21 by Maximilian Schneiderbauer, Matthias Emmrich, Alfred J. Weymouth +2
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic force acoustic microscopy #Atomic force microscopy #Atomic physics #Conductive atomic force microscopy #Dipole #Electrostatic force microscope #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Kelvin probe force microscope #Magnetic force microscope #Materials science #Microscopy #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Molecular physics #Nanotechnology #Non-contact atomic force microscopy #Optics #Photoconductive atomic force microscopy #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Range (aeronautics) #Scanning Force Microscopy #Scanning capacitance microscopy #Scanning confocal electron microscopy #Scanning ion-conductance microscopy #Scanning probe microscopy #Scanning tunneling microscope #Surface and Thin Film Phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.112.166102
9 pages, 3 figures, supplemental information
arxiv created 2014/02/21 · openalex publication_date 2014/04/23 · arxiv updated 2015/06/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We investigate insulating Cu2N islands grown on Cu(100) by means of combined scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy with two vastly different tips: a bare metal tip and a CO-terminated tip. We use scanning tunneling microscopy data as proposed by Choi, Ruggiero, and Gupta to unambiguously identify atomic positions. Atomic force microscopy images taken with the two different tips show an inverted contrast over Cu2N. The observed force contrast can be explained with an electrostatic model, where the two tips have dipole moments of opposite directions. This highlights the importance of short-range electrostatic forces in the formation of atomic contrast on polar surfaces in noncontact atomic force microscopy.