Lithographically defined polymer tips for quartz tuning fork based scanning force microscopes

A process for batch fabricating and mounting polymer (SU-8, EPON) tips on a mass-produced quartz tuning fork wafer is proposed in this paper. In order to add a sharp tip to a side wall of such tuning forks, three unconvention al procedures were combined with an optical lithography step: (1) gluing th e sample and mask together; (2) coating a photosensitive polymer directly o n this ensemble; and (3) inclining the mask during exposure. Sharp SU-8 tip s with a 170 nm radius of curvature were obtained. These tuning fork sensor s were successfully applied in scanning force microscope imaging in the dyn amic mode. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science BY All rights reserved.