T1601-1-4 Fabrication and characterization of narrow-gapped silicon dual nano probe for atomic force microscope

Abstract

This paper presents fabrication and characterization of narrow gapped silicon dual nano probe for atomic force microscope. Each probe has a silicon nano tip on a cantilever, on which a thermal actuator is formed to depart the probe from sample surface when the other probe is used for AFM imaging. By supplying electric power of 9mW (30mA) to the thermal actuator, each cantilever can be heated up to 40℃, resulting in deflection of 2.5μm. The non-heated probe was also deflected approximately 0.5μm during the other probe heating. However, AFM image was successfully obtained by the non-heated probe with high stability.