Carbon nanotubes as tips in non-contact SFM

The demand for sharp and stable tips suggests the use of carbon nanotubes as probing tips in scanning force microscopy. Here, we report a comparison of the long-range forces of conventional tips and nanotube tips, topographical images of various surfaces, such as Cu 111., Si 111.7=7 and NaCl 100., as well as images of a bundle of multiwalled nanotubes, which was deposited by severe tip crashing. It is found that the long-range forces of carbon nanotube probing tips are reduced and that they are more resistant to wear than conventional silicon tips q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.