Soft, entirely photoplastic probes for scanning force microscopy

A new probe made entirely of plastic material has been developed for scanni ng probe microscopy. Using a polymer for the cantilever facilitates the rea lization of mechanical properties that are difficult to achieve with classi cal silicon technology. The new cantilever and tip presented here are made of an epoxy-based photoplastic. The fabrication process is a simple batch p rocess in which the integrated tip and the lever are defined in one photoli thography step. The simplicity of the fabrication step, the use of a polyme r as material, and the ability to reuse the silicon mold lead to a soft low -cost probe for scanning force microscopy. Imaging soft condensed matter wi th photoplastic levers, which uses laser beam deflection sensing, exhibits a resolution that compares well with that of commercially available silicon cantilevers. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)04801- 7].