AFM in surface finishing. Part III. Lateral force microscopy and friction measurements

This paper is the third in a series of practical topics on the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in surface finishing and focuses on lateral force microscopy (LFM) as a method for obtaining frictional, or tribological, data. This AFM technique monitors the lateral twisting of the cantilever as it is rastered over the sample's surface. The resulting image, which can be obtained simultaneously with the topography (height) image, shows contrast between areas with differing frictional properties. LFM has been applied to the study of a wide range of systems, including: single crystals, alkanethiols on golds, silanes on glass, conducting polymers, polyurethanes and biological surfaces.