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An atomic force microscope (AFM) has been configured so that it measures the force between a tip mounted on a cantilever beam and a sample surface as a function of the tip–surface separation. This allows the AFM to study both the nanomechanical properties of the sample and the forces associated with the tip–surface interaction. More specifically, the AFM can measure the elastic and plastic behavior and hardness via nanoindentation, van der Waals forces, and the adhesion of thin-film and bulk materials with unprecedented force and spatial resolution. The force resolution is currently 1 nanonewton, and the depth resolution is 0.02 nm. Additionally, the instrument itself is compact and relatively inexpensive.
Burnham et al. (Sat,) studied this question.