Fabrication and Properties of Carbon Nanotube Atomic Force Microscope Tips

摘要

We attached multiwall carbon nanotubes on a conventional Si tip for an atomic force microscope (AFM) using an optical microscope with two independent translation stages. In this process, first alignment of purified nanotubes on the conductive tape, second attachment of an aligned nanotube on the AFM tip, then decrease of nanotube tip length by electrical etching. Force-displacement measurements made on the tips show that they buckle elastically and have very small nonspecific adhesion on surfaces in air. The high aspect ratio of the tips enables more accurate images of structures with steep sidewalk such as silicon trench. Using these modified tips, we successfully imaged a protein of the characteristic Y-shaped structure that was previously unobservable with conventional AFM cantilevers.