%0 Journal Article
%T Intermolecular contrast in atomic force microscopy images without intermolecular bonds
%A Sampsa K. H£żm"al£żinen
%A Nadine van der Heijden
%A Joost van der Lit
%A Stephan den Hartog
%A Peter Liljeroth
%A Ingmar Swart
%J Physics
%D 2014
%I arXiv
%R 10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.186102
%X Intermolecular features in atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of organic molecules have been ascribed to intermolecular bonds. A recent theoretical study [P. Hapala et al., Phys. Rev. B 90, 085421 (2014)] showed that these features can also be explained by the flexibility of molecule terminated tips. We probe this effect by carrying out AFM experiments on a model system that contains regions where intermolecular bonds should and should not exist between close-by molecules. Intermolecular features are observed in both regions, demonstrating that intermolecular contrast cannot be directly interpreted as intermolecular bonds.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1410.1933v2