ULTRASHARP DIAMOND-COATED SILICON TIPS FOR SCANNING-PROBE DEVICES

The goal of the work was to develop a technique for preparing cantilev ers for atomic force microscopy with ultra-sharp, ultra-hard tips. For this purpose, two technologies were combined: (a) preparation of Si c antilevers with the principal (111)-oriented face; (b) formation of th e probe by growing of single-crystal Si columns on the cantilevers fro m the vapor phase (vapor-liquid-solid VLS) with subsequent sharpening, deposition of diamond on the tips formed, and sharpening of the diamo nd tips by ion-beam bombardment. Sharp diamond tips with curvature rad ii as small as 20 nm were formed.