General

• SPM probe for very high resolution imaging
• fits to all well-known commercial SPMs
• monolithic design of holder, cantilever and tip
• tip is pointing into the <100> direction
• cantilever and tip are supported by a single crystal silicon holder

Material Features

• highly doped, single crystal silicon
• high conductivity of the doped silicon avoids electrostatic charging
• resistively is as low as 0.01-0.025 Ohm*cm.
• no intrinsic stress and absolutely straight cantilevers
• no bending of cantilever by changing temperatures
• chemically inert silicon for application in fluids or electrochemical cells

Cantilever

• trapezoidal cross section of the cantilever
• rather wide detector side for easy adjustment
• small width at the tip side reduces the damages

Holder

• cantilever is fixed to a silicon holder
• dimensions of the holder are very reproducible
• replacement of probe without major readjustment
• etched corners of the holder avoid contact between the holder and the sample

Tip

• tip is shaped like a polygon based pyramid and is located at the very end of the cantilever
• macroscopic half-cone angles
  - are 20° to 25° seen along the cantilever axis
  - are 25° to 30° seen from the side
  - taper to virtually zero at the very end of the tip
• tip radii are typically better than 10 nm
• tip height is 10-15 µm