During our investigation of the surface morphology of various polyethy
lene glycol methacrylate copolymers we found that the rapid drying of
a chloroform solution of a poly(methyl methacrylate-co-polyethylene gl
ycol methacrylate) polymer resulted in the generation of a surface cha
racterised by many sharp sided holes in a flat polymer matrix, which l
ead to extensive tip self imaging. By measuring the profiles of these
holes (which are of variable size ranging from tens of nanometres to m
icrons in depth), it is possible to estimate the gross tip profile ove
r a wide vertical range in a totally non-destructive manner.