Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, the atomic-scale interactions between metallic tips and samples in noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) are studied using molecular dynamics simulations. The effects of the tip and sample materials, the surface plane direction and the lateral position of the tip with respect to the sample, on the interaction force and the dissipated energy, are investigated. The simulations conducted demonstrate that, generally, we can classify the possible outcomes for the dynamics due to the tip-surface interactions into four major categories. The first category includes all cases in which there are no considerable instabilities in tip-surface interactions, leading to negligible...