KL probes for robotic-based cellular nano surgery

We recently developed a very fast and reliable single-step etching process to fabricate sharp-angled micropipette and probe tips from capillary tubes and optical fibers, respectively. This novel process is less complex and yields finer tips than other available multi-steps sharp-tip (e.g., SNOM tips) fabrication processes. The process is named as Kwong-Li´s (KL) Method. By means of our sacrificial boundary etching technique, in which we introduced glass tubings as etching barriers, probes with very sharp tips and long tapers were formed. Using p-xylene as organic solvent and hydrofluoric acid as etchant, we succeeded in shaping capillary tubes into micropipettes with tip angle <2.1° and with tip diameter of 5 μm. Optical fibers (with initial fiber diameter of 125 μm) were also sharpen into tiny-tips with angles ranging from <2.7-9.7°, and with nanoscale tip diameters of <1 μm. With their nanometric tips, the KL micropipettes and probes could potentially be used as surgical tools for microcellular surgery and possibly for scanning probe microscopy applications. We have already shown that KL probes could penetrate through cell membranes with less mechanical resistance than conventional pipettes and probes made from Turner´s Method. The fabrication process of KL Method and experimental results from using KL probes to probe cells are presented in this paper.