Theoretical simulation of noncontact AFM images of Si 111/ 63=63-Ag surface based on Fourier expansion method

A Fourier expansion method is introduced to simulate the noncontact atomic force microscopy NC-AFM.images in an efficient way, where three dimensional 3D. tip–surface interaction force distribution calculated by the first-principles density functional LDA.calculations are fitted to an analytical function. As an example of application of this method, we adopt a Si 111.63=63 R308-Ag surface. Force spectroscopies and 2D images for different tip height are presented. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved