Fabrication of novel silicon dual atomic force microscope tip with narrow gap

Shinji Morita; Takashi Mineta; Eiji Makino; Akihiro Umino; Takahiro Kawashima; Takayuki Shibata

doi:10.1117/1.3142970

1 April 2009 Fabrication of novel silicon dual atomic force microscope tip with narrow gap

Shinji Morita, Takashi Mineta, Eiji Makino, Akihiro Umino, Takahiro Kawashima, Takayuki Shibata

Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 8, Issue 2, 021117 (April 2009). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3142970

Abstract

We propose a novel fabrication process for twin probes of an atomic force microscope (AFM) that consist of a silicon dual tip with a narrow gap. The dual tip with a tetrahedral shape consists of an inclined silicon (111) plane and two vertical planes and was successfully fabricated by using the proposed fabrication process of combining deep reactive ion etching (D-RIE) for silicon trench formation along the silicon (001) direction, selective oxidation of the sidewalls of the trench, and crystalline anisotropic etching. The silicon tips could be sharpened by a low-temperature oxidation process, resulting in a tip radius of about 10 nm. In addition, the dual silicon tip formation, dual AFM probe with cantilever, and thermal actuator were also successfully fabricated from a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) water. The gap of the dual tip was about 2.9 µm, with trench etching 1 µm wide and sidewall oxidation 1 µm thick.

©(2009) Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Citation Download Citation

Shinji Morita, Takashi Mineta, Eiji Makino, Akihiro Umino, Takahiro Kawashima, and Takayuki Shibata "Fabrication of novel silicon dual atomic force microscope tip with narrow gap," Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS 8(2), 021117 (1 April 2009). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3142970

Published: 1 April 2009

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