The structures formed by atomic force microscopic tip scanning on a 133 nm thick poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (PtBuA) film were examined at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 58• C with various scanning velocities from 1 to 20 µm s −1 . It was observed that bumps were created at low temperatures and high scanning velocities. As the temperature was increased and the scanning velocity was decreased, bundles were produced through aggregation of the bumps. The width of the bundles was about 100 nm. As the temperature was further increased to higher than the glassy-rubbery phase transition temperature, T g ∼ 50• C, of the PtBuA polymer, no bundle structures were formed at low scanning velocities. Our results clearly indicate that the formation of bumps and bundles occurs from the interplay of polymer peeling and relaxation. With polymer peeling taking place on soft polymer surfaces, slower relaxation favours the accumulation of polymer coil displacement and the formation of the bump and bundle structures, while fast relaxation results in the recovery of the polymer perturbation and no formation of surface structures.