Determination of organic contaminant concentration on the silica surface by lateral force microscopy

We present a method for determining the concentration of organic contaminants on the silica surface by using lateral force maps and surface topology images obtained with scanning probe microscopy. In this study, we optimized the scanning frequency to increase the contrast of images and facilitate interpretation of the data obtained. We also proved experimentally that the sensitivity of the method reaches $10^{-11}$ g/cm$^2$.