Energy dissipation and dynamic response of an amplitude-modulation atomic-force microscopy subjected to a tip-sample viscous force

In a common environment of atomic force microscopy (AFM), a damping force occurs between a tip and a sample. The influence of damping on the dynamic response of a cantilever must be significant. Moreover, accurate theory is very helpful for the interpretation of a sampleʹs topography and properties. In this study, the effects of damping and nonlinear interatomic tip–sample forces on the dynamic response of an amplitude-formulation AFM are investigated. The damping force is simulated by using the conventional Kelvin–Voigt damping model. The interatomic tip–sample force is the attractive van der Waals force. For consistance with real measurement of a cantilever, the mathematical equations of the beam theory of an AM-AFM are built and its analytical solution is derived. Moreover, an AFM system is also simplified into a mass–spring-damper model. Its exact solution is simple and intuitive. Several relations among the damping ratio, the response ratio, the frequency shift, the energy dissipation and the Q-factor are revealed. It is found that the resonant frequencies and the phase angles determined by the two models are almost same. Significant differences in the resonant quality factors and the response ratios determined by using the two models are also found. Finally, the influences of the variations of several parameters on the error of measuring a sampleʹs topography are investigated.