Patent ID: 8373431
Filing Date: 2013-02-12
Classification: B82Y,G01Q,G11B

Abstract:
1. A probe for scanning over a substrate, comprising terminals, a supporting structure, which is mechanically coupled to said terminals and which extends away from said terminals, a tip with a nanoscale apex, a beam structure which comprises a heating resistor and which is mechanically attached at its ends to said supporting structure and which is thinned at least in a direction parallel to an axis of said tip compared to an area of said supporting structure abutting said beam structure, an effective heating resistor distance within said beam structure from said heating resistor to each end of said beam structure being comparable to or longer than half of an effective temperature decay length, said effective temperature decay length depending on a thermal conductivity of said beam structure and on a thermal conductivity of a medium between said beam structure and said substrate and a spacing between said beam structure and said substrate and a thickness of said beam structure measured in a direction parallel to said axis of said tip.