Line Scan Reconstruction: A Viable Approach for Tracking Atomic Stick–Slip Events and True Tip Position in Atomic Force Microscopy

Since its first report on graphite, atomic stick–slip friction has been widely observed on various crystalline surfaces in atomic force microscopy (AFM) experiments. Theoretically, one can extract the key intrinsic interface parameters, e.g., functional shape of the atomic interaction potential energy, thermal hopping frequency and effective damping coefficient, from statistics of the atomic stick–slip data. However, this approach is seriously impeded by the lack of a reliable method to extract the physically meaningful statistical data. In this work, we present an easy and robust approach to reconstruct the atomic stick–slip process such that individual slip events with arbitrary slip distance can be automatically identified, while the slip forces and true tip position can be obtained simultaneously. By implementing the new scheme for both one-dimensional and two-dimensional simulated data and real AFM experiments, we clearly demonstrate that this new method can reliably resist noise interference while accurately preserving the essential thermodynamic information. The new technique enables the physical process of atomic friction to be unveiled with far more details and provides a new paradigm for examining the statistics of atomic processes in sliding interfaces.