ABSTRACT
In 1999, Carpick, Ogletree and Salmeron (COS) [16] provided an approximate general equation for easily describing the contact area. The general equation is amenable to conventional curve fitting software routines and provides a rapid method of determining the value of the transition parameter which describes the range of surface forces. They showed that the Maugis formulation could be approximated using the following formula to determine the contact radius:
They also outlined a step-by-step procedure to fit this equation to determine the regime of contact for AFM or SFA experiments.
