The high-amplitude dynamic response of cantilever structures as used in scanning force microscopy was investigated as a function of the probe-sample distance. A computer simulation using the Muller-Yushchenko-Derjaguin/Burgess-Hughes-White (MYD/BHW) method applying realistic surface potentials including adhesion was done. The simulation providing dynamic force-distance curves allows us to attribute discontinuities observed in experimental amplitude-distance curves as the transition points from the purely attractive regime to the repulsive interaction near the lower inflection point of the vibrating probe. © 1996 The American Physical Society.

• Received 27 July 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.53.15485