Normal and lateral force investigation using magnetically activated force sensors

A new design of cantilever has been fabricated in order to easily apply the resonance dynamic measurement technique to lateral interactions between an atomic force microscope tip and sample. Simultaneous images have been obtained in ultrahigh vacuum UHV.for normal and lateral interactions by activating the cantilever independently at its normal and lateral resonant frequency. The distance dependence of the normal and lateral tip–sample interactions have also been investigated. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.