Quantitative dynamic force microscopy with inclined tip oscillation

In the mathematical description of dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM), the relation between the tip–surface normal interaction force, the measurement observables, and the probe excitation parameters is defined by an average of the normal force along the sampling path over the oscillation cycle. Usually, it is tacitly assumed that tip oscillation and force data recording follows the same path perpendicular to the surface. Experimentally, however, the sampling path representing the tip oscillating trajectory is often inclined with respect to the surface normal and the data recording path. Here, we extend the mathematical description of dynamic AFM to include the case of an inclined sampling path. We find that the inclination of the tip movement can have critical consequences for data interpretation, especially for measurements on nanostructured surfaces exhibiting significant lateral force components. Inclination effects are illustrated by simulation results that resemble the representative experimental conditions of measuring a heterogeneous atomic surface. We propose to measure the AFM observables along a path parallel to the oscillation direction in order to reliably recover the force along this direction.