Scanning Proximity Probes for Nanoscience

Ivo W. Rangelow
FG Mikro- und nanoelektronische Systeme
Technische Universität Ilmenau, Fakultät für Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik
Institut für Mikro- und Nanoelektronik, Postfach 100565, 98684 Ilmenau, Germany
Tel. +49 3677/ 69 3718, Fax. +49 3677/ 69 3132; e-mail: ivo.rangelow@tu-ilmenau.de

This presentation is devoted to the realization of Scanning Proximity Probes used as nanotools. It is expected that in the near future major technological breakthroughs in scanning proximal probe nanotools will allow for key scientific impact on analysis and synthesis of nanostructures. All the cantilever sensors described here are based on advanced silicon micromachining and standard CMOS processing. Moreover, using a newly optimized piezoresistive detection scheme process comprising a Wheatstone bridge, we have designed and fabricated piezoresistive cantilevers for atomic force microscopy, which improve surface topography resolution by an order of magnitude to 0.1 nm. The elegance of this concept is that by using an almost identical detection principle and differently functionalized tips or cantilever surfaces, we can detect subtle sample interactions (mechanical, electrical, thermal, and chemical) with a significantly more compact system than with optical beam deflection techniques. Moreover, nowadays the nanoprobes themselves are mechanically, physically, chemically or biologically functionalized for specific physical, chemical or biological applications at high spatial resolutions (Fig.1). Scanning proximity probes (SPP) are uniquely powerful tools for molecular analyses and sensing; they are capable of addressing and manipulating surfaces at the atomic level. Therein lie the keys to unlocking the full potential of nanotechnology.
Key words: cantilever, scanning force microscopy, micro-, nanomachining.