PointProbe® Series Silicon AFM Tips - General Description

General

• SPM and AFM probes for very high resolution imaging
• fit to all well-known commercial SPMs and AFMs
• cantilever and tip are supported by a single crystal silicon support chip
• monolithic design of support chip, cantilever and tip

Material Features

• highly doped, single crystal silicon (resistivity 0.01 - 0.025 Ohm•cm)
• no intrinsic stress and absolutely straight cantilevers
• chemically inert silicon for application in fluids or electrochemical cells

Cantilever

• rectangular cantilever with trapezoidal cross section
• wide detector side for easy laser beam adjustment
• small width at the tip side reduces damping

Support Chip

• cantilever is integrated into a silicon support chip
• dimensions of the support chip are very reproducible (3.4 mm x 1.6 mm x 0.3 mm)
• alignment grooves on the back side of the silicon support chip in conjunction with the alignment chip ensure replacement of the probes without major readjustment of the laser beam

Tip

• tip is shaped like a polygon based pyramid
• tip height 10-15 µm and radius of curvature typically < 8 nm (< 12 nm guaranteed)
• macroscopic half cone angles :
      - 20° to 25° seen along the cantilever axis
      - 25° to 30° seen from the side