Modelling and experimental verification of tip-induced polarization in Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements on dielectric surfaces

Kelvin probe force microscopy is a widely used technique for measuring surface potential distributions on the micro- and nanometer scale. The data are, however, often analyzed qualitatively, especially for dielectrics. In many cases, the phenomenon of polarization and its influence on the measured signals is disregarded leading to misinterpretation of the results. In this work, we present a model that allows prediction of the surface potential on a metal/polymer
heterostructure as measured by Kelvin probe force microscopy by including the tip-induced polarization of the dielectric that arises during measurement. The model is successfully verified using test samples.