PARAMETERS OF TIP SAMPLE INTERACTIONS IN SHEAR MODE USING 
A QUARTZ TUNING FORK AFM WITH CONTROLLABLE Q FACTOR

Vo Thanh Tung,a,b S. A. Chizhik,a
and Tran Xuan Hoaib

UDC 539.2:681.2

A quartz tuning fork-based atomic force microscopy for 
investigating the tip-sample interactions at the nanoscale in 
the shear-force mode is described. Results of force interactions (damping 
and elastic forces) can be obtained from the amplitude-phase-distance 
spectroscopy measurements made with a tuning fork with a tungsten 
tip and a sample surface. The influence of the interaction between 
tip and sample using the quality factor as an indicator is investigated. 
Furthermore, a simple model shows that the extension of a tuning fork-based 
AFM can be applied to quantitative analysis of the properties of the 
sample surface.

Keywords: tuning fork, shear force, damping force, 
elastic factor, quality factor. 

aA.V. Luikov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute, National 
Academy of Sciences of Belarus, P. Brovka Str. 15, Minsk, 220072, 
Belarus; email: votungbeo@gmail.com; bInstitute of Applied 
Physics and Scientific Instrument of the Vietnamese Academy of Science 
and Technology, Vietnam. Published in Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, 
Vol. 82, No. 1, pp. 141-149, January-February, 2009. Original 
article submitted June 25, 2008.