Sharp SingleCrystal
Diamond
AFM Probes

Single crystal diamond (SCD) probes for atomic force microscopy are diamondtips specially grown by CVD and attached to silicon cantilevers1. The typical
radius of SCD tip is the same as that of a silicon AFM probe, i.e. better than
10 nm.
5 µm

100 nm

Fig.1. SEM image of SCD
probe tip.

Applications

Fig.2. SEM image of SCD tip
end.

The tip is robust, resistant to contamination, and forgiving operation mistakes,
while it is sharp enough to provide high resolution on DNA or lamellar
structures easily (Fig. 3, 4, 5). As a result, SCD tip can be used to make manyscans, which is especially advantageous when tip relpacement is hard,time-taking, or not compatible with the experiment.
SCD tip is hard enough to induce plastic deformation on almost any surface,
including metals, silicon and glass, making force lithography2 and scratchingexperiments accessible and easy on your SPM (Fig.6).
Because of the high hardness, SCD tip is also useful for SPM nanoindentationand mapping mechanical properties of hard materials with high resolution(Fig.7).
You can also benefit from the high aspect ratio of the diamond tip to image
corrugated samples or reach the bottom of the pores (Fig.8). The full coneangle of SCD tip ranges from 5° to 10° on at least 1 micron from the end.
It was also reported that SCD probes were used for long-time scanning ofsticky biological samples without tip contamination (Fig.9), which can berelated to the low surface energy of diamond.

Long-Time Scanning
Fig.1. Fragment of a mosaicof 121 scan of Co islands on
Si obtained automatically incontact mode using SCD
probe. Total mosaic size is
1x1 mm, total path of theprobe is 6 meters long, which
demonstrates the tip durability. Courtesy of Alexei
Temiryazev, IRE RAS.

1. A.N. Obraztsov et al. Single crystal diamond tips for scanning probe microscopy. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 013703 (2010)
2. A. Temiryazev. Pulse force nanolithography on hard surfaces using atomic force microscopy with a sharp single-crystal
diamond tip. Diamond & Related Materials 48 (2014) 60–64.

SCDprobes.com

2Applications

SCD tip is:• Resistant to wear and durable, while sharp enough to provide high resolution.
• Good for nanoindentation, mapping properties of hard materials and material
contrast.
• Good for scratching and pulse force lithography on hard materials.
• Good for imaging high aspect ratio features on surface.
• Can be used for long-time scanning of sticky biomaterial and cleanable.
Resolution on Lamellae

Topography ofBiomolecules

SPM Force
Nanolithography

Fig.4. AFM scan of Melissa
acid lamellar structure thatshows high resolution
attainable by SCD tip on flatsurfaces. Scan size
250x250 nm, height 1.5 nm.
Courtesy of Alexei Temiriazev, IRE RAS.

Fig.5. AFM topography of acollagen biomolecule madeusing SCD probe. Scan size
320 nm, height 0.8 nm. The
blobs seen on the collagenare proteins attached to it.
The tip lasted for about a dayof imaging. Courtesy ofSidney Cohen, WIS.

Fig.6. AFM scan of a grating
made on metal film using
force lithography by SCD
probe. Period 100 nm, depth
more than 20 nm (scan size
3.5 µm, height 35 nm).
Courtesy of E. Huseynov,
T. Mekhtiyev, Institute ofPhysics of ANAS.

Material Properties
MappingHigh Aspect Ratio

Imaging Sticky
Biomaterials

Fig.7. Fragment of an arrayof 64 000 indents left on Si
semiconductor structure inmaterial contrast experiment.
Scan size 400 nm. Courtesyof Alexei Temiryazev, IRERAS.

Fig.8. AFM image of nitrocellulose membrane that showsadvantage of the high aspectratio of SCD tip. Scan heightis more than 1 µm, size 5 µm.
Courtesy of Sergei
Magonov, NT-MDT.

Fig.9. AFM scan of fibril andglobular amyloid aggregates.
The globular aggregates arevery sticky samples, but SCD
tip lasted more than 7 hours
without any special care.
Scan size 2 µm, height 20
nm. Courtesy of Mohtadin
Hashemi, UNMC.

Find more scans and application notes on www.scdprobes.com/applications.htm

SCDprobes.com

3Specification

SCD probe for AFM has full cone angle from 5° to 10° when measured at leaston the last 1 µm from the tip end (aspect ratio 5:1) and tip radius less than
10 nm. Crystal orientation is <100> along the tip axis. The diamond tip is glued
on Si cantilever. The glue is non-conducting, stable* at temperatures up to70°C. After gluing, each tip passes quality control on SEM before packaging.
*The glue is chemically stable in water, ethanol, in presence of chloride ions, biological buffers(PBS, Hanks solution, etc); not stable in ketones, DMSO.
5 µm

SEM image of SCD
probe tip.

Cantilevers

Series

100 nm2 µm

SEM image of the tip aspectratio over 2 microns fromthe end

SEM image of SCD tip
end.

SCD probes are glued onto rectangular (diving-board) silicon etchedcantilevers. The chip holder size is 1.6 mm x 3.4 mm x 0.4 mm. Cantileverbackside is coated by Aluminium.

Cantilever Cantilever Cantilever Thickness, Resonant Frequency,
Length,Width,µm
kHzl±5, µm
w±3, µm

Force Constant,
N/m

min

Typicalmax

min

Typicalmax

min

Typical

max

D10

460

50

1.5

2

2.5

8.5

10

15

0.05

0.15

0.3

D80

230

40

2.5

4

4.5

60

80

90

2.0

3.5

5.5

D160

125

25

1.5

22.5

110

160

220

1.8

5.0

12.5

D300

125

35

3.5

44.5

265

300

400

204075SCDprobes.com