We have investigated the effect of surface disorder on atomic friction in the stick-slip dynamical regime of a one-dimensional Prandtl-Tomlinson model. We find that disorder in the substrate potential can modify the mean slip length and then it changes the friction force of the system. In particular, the effect of the disorder is more important at low temperatures and close to dynamical transition points or at high loads. We show results for different values of temperature, amplitude of the corrugation potential, dragging velocity, and damping. Special care is put in the comparison between the results of the regular and the disordered cases at many different temperatures and in the understanding of the combined effect of disorder and temperature in the dynamics of the system. To finish, we present some results on the robustness of the results against a change in the effective damping of the system.

• Received 26 February 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.035435