Measuring van der Waals and electrostatic forces for an atomic force microscope probe contacting with metal surfaces

摘要

A contact force spectrometry technique was used to measure the van der Waals and electrostatic forces acting on platinum-coated silicon probes contacting with metal films on silicon substrates. It is shown that the results of such measurements can be used for determining the geometric characteristics of probes and the Hamaker constant of contacting materials. The experimental data well agree with the theoretical values.