The present study employs a Finite Element Method (FEM) atomic approach to investigate the nanoscale mechanisms of sliding friction. The current investigation chooses diamond-like carbon as the hard material, and copper as the soft material. The atomic configurations following sliding under non-interactive, attractive, and repulsive interaction forces are observed for soft-to-soft, hard-to-soft, and hard-to-hard sliding systems. The relationships between the normal force, the friction force, and the sliding distance are discussed. The current simulation results exhibit a similar trend with the findings of previous studies using molecular dynamics approach. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.