Extraction algorithm for longitudinal and transverse mechanical information of AFM

The atomic force microscope (AFM) can measure nanoscale morphology and mechanical properties and has a wide range of applications. The traditional method for measuring the mechanical properties of a sample does so for the longitudinal and transverse properties separately, ignoring the coupling between them. In this paper, a data processing and multidimensional mechanical information extraction algorithm for the composite mode of peak force tapping and torsional resonance is proposed. On the basis of a tip–sample interaction model for the AFM, longitudinal peak force data are used to decouple amplitude and phase data of transverse torsional resonance, accurately identify the tip–sample longitudinal contact force in each peak force cycle, and synchronously obtain the corresponding characteristic images of the transverse amplitude and phase. Experimental results show that the measured longitudinal mechanical characteristics are consistent with the transverse amplitude and phase characteristics, which verifies the effectiveness of the method. Thus, a new method is provided for the measurement of multidimensional mechanical characteristics using the AFM.