Application of lateral force imaging to enhance topographic features of polypropylene film and photo-cured polymers

It is well known that topographic features can give rise to edge effects when making lateral force measurements in contact mode atomic force microscopy AFM.. Using a ‘smooth’ polypropylene film, which was also imaged by non-contact mode AFM, we showed that the edge effect can be used to reveal topographic features clearly through an enhancement of their outlines. Using photo-cured polymers we demonstrated that lateral force imaging is especially useful in revealing topographic features on surfaces which have large height differences. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.