Detection of tip convolution effects based on lateral force analysis

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been widely used in various fields due to its excellent performance. Unfortunately the imaging principle of an AFM determines that tip convolution occurs in the scanning process, resulting in image distortion. A model is established to reveal the relationship between the lateral force and the topography of sample surface, and the variation of the lateral force in the tip convolution process is analyzed. On this basis, a method for detecting tip convolution effects based on lateral force analysis is presented. The method uses a specific image to visually represent the distortion areas in the topography image of the sample surface. Experiments show that this method can effectively detect the distortion areas caused by the tip convolution effects in the image.