The effect of deformation on the lateral resolution of atomic force microscopy

A computer model based on the elastic properties of rubber is introduced for the evaluation of the lateral resolution in atomic force microscopy of deformable specimens. The computational results show that, if the full width at half-height can be defined as the lateral resolution, it is continuously improved at greater probe forces, at the expense of a reduced molecular height, In fact, even for a probe that is bigger than the molecule, the real size of the molecule can be 'recovered' at about 25% compression. This result demonstrates that for a better lateral resolution, a greater probe force can be beneficial, provided that the molecule is not moved or damaged and the response remains elastic. Measurements on isolated low-density lipoproteins (LDL) show that with 26% vertical compression, the lateral size measured in atomic force microscopy is only 72% of the value predicted by a simple convolution, and is only slightly larger (approximately 13%) than the known size of LDL. Therefore, the results on LDL provide a direct support for the conclusions of the computational model.