CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION DIAMOND FOR TIPS IN NANOPROBE EXPERIMENTS

Diamond is the most suitable material for many experimental methods in nanoprobe microscopy and materials testing. The extreme hardness, the high Young's modulus, the inert nature of the surface, and the electr ical conductivity obtained through doping make this material particula rly attractive. We have coated silicon atomic force microscope (AFM) l evers with thin (100 nn) doped diamond layers by chemical vapor deposi tion (CVD). A continuous diamond coating was obtained, resulting in ti ps with 100-200 nm radii. Owing to their electrical conductivity, thes e tips were found to be adequate for conducting AFM and scanning tunne ling microscope applications, some of which are briefly discussed and reviewed in this article. We have also demonstrated CVD diamond tips, microfabricated in a controlled fashion, that have a 20 nm apex radius . These tips are particularly promising for nanomechanics and general AFM use. (C) 1996 American Vacuum Society.