Note: Mechanical etching of atomic force microscope tip and microsphere attachment for thermal radiation scattering enhancement

This Note describes a mechanical etching technique which can be used to prepare silicon tips used in atomic force microscopy apparatus. For such devices, dedicated tips with specific shapes are now commonly used to probe surfaces. Yet, the control of the tip morphology where characteristic scales ar...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of scientific instruments 2013-12, Vol.84 (12), p.126106-126106
Main Authors: Brissinger, D., Parent, G., Lacroix, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apexes
Atomic force microscopes
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
Attachment
Devices
Engineering Sciences
ETCHING
Influents
INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Microscopes
MORPHOLOGY
PROBES
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SCATTERING
Scientific apparatus & instruments
SILICON
THERMAL RADIATION
Tips
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This Note describes a mechanical etching technique which can be used to prepare silicon tips used in atomic force microscopy apparatus. For such devices, dedicated tips with specific shapes are now commonly used to probe surfaces. Yet, the control of the tip morphology where characteristic scales are lower than 1 μm remains a real challenge. Here, we detail a controlled etching process of AFM probes apex allowing micrometer-sized sphere attachment. The technique used and influent parameters are discussed and SEM images of the achieved tips are given. Deceptive problems and drawbacks that might occur during the process are also covered.
ISSN:0034-6748
1089-7623
DOI:10.1063/1.4849575