Mounting of micromachined diamond tips and cantilevers

Abstract

Micromachined chemical vapour-deposited diamond tips are useful nanotools because of their high hardness, electrical conductivity and chemically inert nature. A technology is described to transfer pyramidal diamond tips on cantilevers to Pyrex substrates by anodic bonding in selected areas. This technology has been used to fabricate tips for individual handling and hybrid mounting on silicon cantilevers. Bond strengths have been quantified and the devices have been tested in a conducting atomic force microscopy experiment. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.