April 19-24, 2026​ | San Diego, CA | Town & Country Resort

ICMCTF 2026

Oxford Instruments is excited to attend the 52nd International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films (ICMCTF) in San Diego, California. ICMCTF is a leading conference in the field of thin film deposition, characterization, and advanced surface engineering.

Oxford Instruments is thrilled to be showcasing our technologies that support the work in this field, with our Nanoindentation, Raman spectroscopy, and AFM solutions. We’ll be showcasing the iX05, our newest high‑speed, in‑situ nanoindentation innovation. Don’t miss the opportunity to see it in action!

In addition to live demos, our sales experts will be on site to discuss the excellent capabilities of our AFM and Raman spectroscopy solutions for the thin films market.

Be sure to stop by Booth #309 to experience our imaging, surface measurement, and characterization solutions!

Technical Talks

Calibrated Friction Measurements Using a New Interferometric Atomic Force Microscopy

Thursday April 23, 2026, 4:00 – 4:20 p.m. PST, Room: Palm 3–4

Dr. Joel Lefever, Senior R&D Scientist

Full Abstract:

Measuring lateral force is critical for friction measurements on tribological materials ranging from bearings in engines to 2D materials. The atomic force microscope (AFM) is one important tool for frictional measurement on the scales of both microns and nanometers. Conventional optical beam deflection (OBD)-based AFMs are difficult to calibrate‚ with most calibration methods requiring cumbersome sample exchanges which may disturb the alignment of the chip and detection beam‚ while simultaneously introducing substantial uncertainty.

We introduce a method for performing lateral force measurements using an AFM with a quadrature phase differential interferometer (QPDI) detector in addition to a traditional optical beam detector (OBD)‚ which furthermore provides a new means to perform a direct calibration of the lateral sensitivity. The detection spot may be placed on the centerline of the cantilever‚ using QPDI for height feedback while using OBD for friction measurement. In this configuration crosstalk from the lateral signal into the normal signal is eliminated‚ which reduces the effects of friction and topography on the applied load and is useful for macroscopic relief. Alternatively‚ by positioning the interferometric detection spot along one edge of the cantilever‚ the AFM takes advantage of the detector’s low noise floor to observe stick-slip friction at scan rates that would be difficult or impossible with optical beam AFMs The results demonstrate clearly resolvable stick-slip friction over a range of tip speeds up to 2 µm/s and additionally show the variation of friction with applied load. Because this calibration technique can be performed in situ without sample exchanges‚ it also allows calibration to be performed in enclosed environments‚ for example to enable changing humidity. Furthermore‚ with some modifications‚ all of these methods can also be performed in liquid‚ which is useful for characterizing tribofilm growth and other phenomena.