Scanning force microscopy investigation of liquid structures and its application to fundamental wetting research

The possibility of determining the topography of liquid profiles by scannin g force microscopy (SFM) in tapping mode is discussed in detail as to its p ossible mechanism and accuracy. Applications of this technique to the inves tigation of contact line tensions and effective interface potentials an pre sented. Two complementary methods, both based on SFM of the liquid topograp hy, are demonstrated for determining contact line tensions. The values obta ined are within the theoretically expected range.