Carbon Nanotube Tips Carbon nanotubes possess many unique properties which make them ideal AFM probes. Their high aspect ratio provides faithful imaging of deep trenches, while good resolution is retained due to their nanometer-scale diameter. These geometrical factors also lead to reduced tip-sample adhesion, which allows gentler imaging.
Nanotubes elastically buckle rather than break when deformed, which results in highly robust probes.
AFM tips are connected to micromanipulators and the nanotubes are attached to the tip while viewed with an optical microscope. Although this procedure has enjoyed success in the initial development of nanotube tips, we believe it is ultimately limited for several reasons. First, the procedure is laborious and only produces one tip at a time, so it is unlikely that nanotube tips produced this way will be made widely available. Second, viewing with an optical microscope selects towards large diameter nanotube bundles, which have lower resolution than thin, individual nanotube tips. Finally, there is currently no manual assembly technique or tip etching method which will produce an individual single-walled nanotube tip at the very end.