Cantilever calibration for nanofriction experiments with atomic force microscope

Abstract

The lateral force microscope can provide information on frictional properties on surfaces down to the nanometer scale. Reproducible quantitative measurements require an accurate calibration of the mechanical response of cantilever. In this letter, we propose a fast and nondestructive method to determine the normal and lateral cantilever stiffness, kcantileverN and kcantileverL, used to calculate the normal and friction forces. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.