Abstract
A new atomic force microscopy (AFM) force mapping technique has been used to investigate insulating thin (100) films of NaCl on conducting Cu(111) substrate at 78 K. This technique was able to map the interaction forces between the AFM tip and the surface ions of the sample. The site-specific force curves of the (100) surface of the NaCl thin films are presented. We observed only an attractive short-range interaction force at the Na+ and Cl- sites. We propose simple models to explain the behavior of the force curves at the different ion sites.
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