Microfabrication of oxidation-sharpened silicon tips on silicon nitride cantilevers for atomic force microscopy

Author

Folch, Albert ; Wrighton, Mark S. ; Schmidt, Martin A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Chem., MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

6

Issue

4

fYear

1997

fDate

12/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

303

Lastpage

306

Abstract

We have developed a novel process for the microfabrication of atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilevered tips from silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. The tip and cantilever are made of crystalline silicon and low-stress silicon nitride, respectively. This choice of materials allows us to sharpen the tips by oxidation sharpening without affecting the cantilever. We evaluated their performance in contact mode during imaging of artificial nanostructures and compared them to commercially available ones. The images acquired with our tips feature superior resolution on those samples

Keywords

atomic force microscopy; elemental semiconductors; micromachining; microsensors; oxidation; semiconductor technology; silicon; silicon-on-insulator; AFM cantilevers; SOI wafers; Si; Si-Si₃N₄; atomic force microscopy; contact mode; crystalline Si; microfabrication; oxidation-sharpened Si tips; resolution; silicon nitride cantilevers; Atomic force microscopy; Chemical technology; Chemistry; Crystalline materials; Crystallization; Laboratories; Nanostructured materials; Oxidation; Silicon on insulator technology; Surface topography;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/84.650126

Filename

650126