Patent Description:
An SPM probe comprises an elongate strip attached at one end to a holder and carrying at its other end a tip. The strip is referred to as the cantilever of the probe, while the tip may be a pyramid-shaped body placed onto the plane of the cantilever as illustrated for example in document <CIT>, thereby pointing in a direction essentially perpendicular to the cantilever. Alternatively the tip may extend in the plane of the cantilever, as illustrated for example in document <CIT>, or the tip may extend from the cantilever at an angle between <NUM> and <NUM> degrees. During an SPM acquisition, the tip is placed in contact to or in close proximity with a surface and the probe is scanned along a given trajectory, usually a set of parallel lines. The interaction between the tip and the surface is translated into topographical, electrical or magnetic data of the surface, or into signals related to the composition of a sample, depending on the characteristics of the tip. The probe may be in continuous contact with the surface under investigation, or an intermittent contact mode may be applied, wherein the surface characteristics are measured by detecting changes in the impedance (electrical or other) of the probe-surface connection. A contactless mode is equally applicable, when the interaction between the probe and the surface is dominated by non-contact forces such as Vanderwaals forces.

Various materials have been proposed for the fabrication of the tip and the cantilever. Full diamond tips and diamond coated tips have proven to be advantageous due to the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the diamond probe material. The dimensions of the apex area of the tip determine the resolution of the acquisitions. Pyramid-shaped tips and in-plane tips are available which allow the imaging and characterization of nano-scaled surface features. However for emerging sub-<NUM> technology nodes, the aspect ratio of currently available tips is becoming too low. While it is known to produce a 'tip-on-tip' structure, for example from document <CIT>, thereby increasing the aspect ratio of the tip, the methods available for producing such a structure are technically complex.

The document <NPL>, describes a method for producing nano-tips on a diamond coated SPM probe tip, wherein gold particles are formed on the tip, followed by an etch process, the gold particles acting as an etch mask for the formation of the nano-tips.

Patent publication document <CIT> discloses a method comprising providing a silicon substrate, wet etching the single crystal silicon substrate along the <<NUM>> plane with an anisotropic wet etch to fabricate a depression in the form of an inverted pyramid-shaped opening with a <NUM>-pointed scanning probe tip, growing silicon dioxide on the sidewalls of the pyramid-shaped opening of the single crystal silicon substrate, depositing <NUM> of aluminium oxide on the sidewalls of the inverted pyramid-shaped opening, depositing a tungsten layer, depositing a seed layer comprising nanocrystalline diamond particles onto the tungsten layer and depositing diamond on the seed crystals to form the scanning probe tip and separating the scanning probe tip from the depression in the substrate.

Patent publication document <CIT> is related to an atomic force microscopy-scanning electrochemical microscopy (AFM-SECM) sensor comprising an AFM tip on an AFM cantilever, with a conductive layer on the AFM tip which forms a conductive AFM tip and wherein said conductive tip is connected to a contact region on the cantilever, said contact region providing the contact site for delivering the measurement signal to the AFM microscope, wherein said conductive layer is covered by an insulating layer except for the immediate tip and the contact site, wherein said insulating layer is covered by a conductive protection layer, and wherein, due to a cavity between the conductive protection layer and the conductive AFM tip, said cavity being formed by the absence or by removal of a tip located portion of the insulating layer, the region of the conductive AFM tip forms a ring electrode with the conductive protection layer.

Patent publication document <CIT> is related to a method of manufacturing a probe having an extremely hard and acute tip, which involves the steps of precipitating a carbon film mixed with a columnar diamond crystal and an amorphous carbonic component at a tip of a probe material; and protruding the columnar diamond crystal by selectively etching the amorphous carbonic component.

Patent publication document <CIT> is related to a method for producing a measuring tip for a scanning probe microscope, in which at least one diamond needle is produced from the diamond layer on an existing measuring tip for the corresponding microscope that is at least partially coated with diamond and protruding beyond the existing measuring tip.

The invention aims to provide a technically straightforward method for producing a probe tip with increased aspect ratio.

According to the invention, one or more smaller tip portions are produced on the larger tip body of a probe suitable for SPM, after the production of the probe tip body as such. In embodiments the smaller tip portions are nano-sized tips whereas the dimensions of the tip body are in the order of micrometers. The probe tip body is produced by producing a mold in a substrate and depositing a probe material such as diamond in the mold. The creation of the smaller tip portions is realized by a self-aligned plasma etch procedure, using a mask layer on the outer surface of the probe tip body. The mask layer comprises a layer of irregular thickness which comprises seed particles and/or compounds formed spontaneously on the outer surface of the tip body such as oxides or oxycarbides. The seed particles are deposited in the mold prior to the deposition of the probe material.

The invention provides a method for producing a probe tip suitable for scanning probe microscopy (SPM), comprising the steps of:.

According to the invention, the mask layer comprises a layer of irregular thickness formed prior to the etch procedure, wherein said layer of irregular thickness acts as an etch mask for the etching of the probe material.

According to the invention, the tip body is produced by producing a mold in a substrate and by depositing the probe material in the mold, wherein seed particles are deposited in the mold prior to depositing the probe material therein, wherein the layer of irregular thickness comprises the seed particles, and wherein the seed particles are etched at a slower rate than the probe material,
and/or wherein the layer of irregular thickness comprises compounds formed spontaneously, e.g. by oxidation, on the surface of the tip body after the production process of the tip body and prior to the etch procedure.

[<NUM>] According to an embodiment, the layer of irregular thickness further comprises compounds formed spontaneously on the surface of the mold.

According to an embodiment, the etch rate of the layer of irregular thickness is considerably lower than the etch rate of the probe material.

According to an embodiment, the etch procedure comprises :.

According to an embodiment, the probe tip body is attached to a cantilever and particles of the cantilever material are sputtered during the etch procedure, and deposited onto the probe tip body, wherein the sputtered particles from the cantilever contribute to the formation of the mask layer during the remainder of the etch procedure.

According to an embodiment, the plasma etch procedure takes place in an etch chamber and particles from materials inside the chamber are sputtered during the etch procedure, and deposited onto the probe tip body, wherein the sputtered particles from said materials inside the chamber contribute to the formation of the mask layer during the remainder of the etch procedure.

According to an embodiment, polymeric etch residues produced during the etch procedure are deposited onto the probe tip body, wherein the etch residues contribute to the formation of the mask layer during the remainder of the etch procedure.

According to an embodiment, the etch procedure comprises multiple etch steps performed under different plasma conditions and during different etch times.

At the end of the etch procedure, the tip portions may be distributed across the totality of the tip body. According to another embodiment, the tip body is pyramid-shaped and at the end of the etch procedure, one or more tip portions are present on the apex area of the tip body and no tip portions are present on the side planes of the tip body, through one or a combination of the following effects :.

According to an embodiment, the etch procedure consists of a single etch process using the same plasma gas or the same mixture of plasma gases throughout the process.

The probe material may be diamond. According to another embodiment the probe material is TiN.

The method of the invention may further comprise the following steps performed after the etch procedure:.

The method of the invention can be used for making a probe tip suitable for scanning probe microscopy (SPM), comprising a probe tip body comprising at least an outer layer of a probe material, wherein a plurality of tip portions formed of the probe material are distributed across the totality of the tip body, the tip portions being considerably smaller and more pointed than the tip body.

According to an embodiment, the tip portions comprise a capping layer on their outer surface except on a tip area of the tip portions, the tip area comprising the apex of the tip portions.

The disclosure includes a probe tip suitable for scanning probe microscopy (SPM), comprising a probe tip body having an apex area and comprising one or more tip portions on the apex area of the tip body, and no tip portions on the remainder of the tip body, the tip portions being considerably smaller and more pointed than the tip body, wherein the tip portions comprise a capping layer on their outer surface except on a tip area of the tip portions, the tip area comprising the apex of the tip portions.

The method of the invention is described in detail for the case of a diamond probe tip produced by a molding technique. The method is however applicable to tips formed of other materials. <FIG> shows a silicon substrate <NUM> wherein a pyramid-shaped mold <NUM> is produced. This is typically done by anisotropic wet etching along the crystallographic planes of the substrate. This is achievable for example when the substrate <NUM> is a (<NUM>) oriented Si substrate, by wet etching the substrate in a square opening while the rest of the substrate is protected by a mask. The dimensions of the mold are in the order of micrometers, for example the sides of the mold may be about <NUM> to <NUM> micrometer long and the depth of the mold may be in the same order of magnitude. Nano-sized diamond seed particles <NUM> are then deposited in the mold, as schematically illustrated in the detail image included in <FIG>, which shows a top view of the mold. The seed particles enable the subsequent growth of a diamond layer in the mold. As known in the art, the deposition of the seed particles may be done by immersion seeding, wherein the substrate <NUM> including the mold <NUM> is immersed into a colloidal solution of the particles in a solvent such as ethanol or H<NUM>O. The potential of these diamond nanoparticles is adjusted to be opposite of the potential of the Si substrate which results into attraction and finally deposition of these diamond nanoparticles onto the Si surface. The detail image shows the particles being evenly distributed in straight arrays, but in reality the particles are distributed more randomly.

According to this particular embodiment of the invention, at least a portion of these particles are non-doped diamond particles. The density of the particles when deposited in the mold may be in accordance with existing methods, for example between 1E10/cm<NUM> and 5E10/cm<NUM>. The density may however be controlled within a larger range of 1E9/cm<NUM> and 1E11/cm<NUM> by adjusting the seeding dispersion chemistry, the particle and substrate potential and the seeding time. The applied density must be such that it enables the growth of a closed (i.e. fully coalesced) diamond layer in the mold. According to an embodiment, the particles consist of a mixture of non-doped diamond particles and doped diamond particles, deposited at any of the above-described densities. Both the doped and non-doped particles enable the growth of a closed diamond layer, but only the non-doped particles will act later on as masks for the creation of the nano-tips in accordance with the invention. The diameter of the individual particles is typically <NUM> to <NUM> but they often cluster to aggregates leading to a size distribution of typically <NUM> to <NUM>.

A doped diamond layer is then deposited for example by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The dopant may be boron. The diamond layer is deposited in the mold <NUM> and on the surface of the substrate <NUM>, after which it is patterned to form a patch <NUM> of the diamond layer inside and around the mold, as shown in <FIG>. The cavity of the mold is thus not fully filled with diamond, but a layer of diamond is deposited on the inverted pyramid surfaces of the mold. The thickness of the diamond layer may vary according to the required probe characteristics. Diamond layers of about <NUM> micrometer thick are often used, but thinner layers are possible, for example about <NUM>. It is also possible to produce a full diamond tip by filling the entire mold with diamond.

The diamond deposition is followed by the deposition and patterning of a metal layer stack <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG>. This may for example be a combination of TaN (about <NUM>) acting as adhesion and peel-off layer, Cu (about <NUM>) as seed layer for Ni electroplating, and Ni as cantilever material (about <NUM> microns). The metal fills the remainder of the mold cavity, so that this cavity is eventually filled by a solid tip formed of a metal core with a diamond layer on it. The patterning of the metal is done so that a base portion <NUM> is formed, with a cantilever <NUM> extending outward from the base portion <NUM>. The distal end of the cantilever covers the diamond patch <NUM>. Lateral arms <NUM> which extend outward on both sides of the base portion <NUM> may be included for facilitating the release of the probe. The cantilever <NUM> and the tip inside the mold are subsequently underetched and the base portion <NUM> is slightly peeled away from the substrate, overcoming the adhesion of the peel-off layer. A silicon holder chip <NUM> is then attached to the base portion <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>, and the assembly is taken away from the substrate, resulting in the finished probe shown in <FIG>. At the distal end of the cantilever <NUM> is a pyramid-shaped tip body <NUM> having a Ni core and a diamond layer at the exterior of the pyramid and at the tip, with a ground plane <NUM> also formed of diamond and extending around the tip body <NUM>. The ground plane <NUM> is embedded in the material of the cantilever <NUM>. The parameters of the above-described method steps are known to the skilled person and not described here in more detail. Any technique known in the art for realizing the above steps is applicable in the method of the invention. Details of the underetch and peel-off process are for example described in document <CIT>.

The method step that characterizes this embodiment of the method of the invention is a step that is added to the above-described fabrication. The probe as shown in <FIG> is subjected to a plasma etch procedure. This may be Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) or Inductive Coupled Plasma (ICP) etching, configured so that the non-doped diamond nanoparticles <NUM> have a lower etch rate than the doped diamond of the tip body <NUM>. This means that the particles are etched slower than the doped diamond layer, i.e. the particles act as an etch mask for the etching of the doped diamond. A suitable etch process having this effect is a plasma etch using O<NUM> as the plasma gas, hereafter referred to as O<NUM>-plasma, and well known in the art (an example of suitable parameters is given further in this description). Furthermore, at the beginning of the process of growing diamond in the Si mold, a thin (typically <NUM>-<NUM> thick) silicon oxycarbide layer is spontaneously formed with a non-uniform thickness. Silicon oxycarbide is the compound SiOxCy, with x<<NUM> and y><NUM>. Like the non-doped particles <NUM>, the SiOxCy layer is etched slower by an O<NUM> plasma etch than the doped diamond, i.e. the SiOxCy also acts as an etch mask.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the SiOxCy layer <NUM> is formed on the mold surface <NUM>, in the spaces between adjacent seed particles <NUM>, and grows thicker until the space in between the growing doped diamond islands <NUM> is closed and a fully coalesced diamond film <NUM> is formed. The outer surface of the probe after its release from the mold is shown in <FIG>. The SiOxCy layer <NUM> together with the nanoparticles <NUM> form a layer <NUM> of irregular thickness, visualized by the bold lines in <FIG>. When this tip is subjected to O<NUM>-plasma etching, the SiOxCy portions <NUM> and the nanoparticles <NUM> are slowly etched away, until parts of the doped diamond layer <NUM> become exposed. This happens locally due to the irregularity of the thickness of layer <NUM>. At these locations, doped diamond is etched at a higher speed than the SiOxCy <NUM> and the seed particles <NUM>. As the O<NUM> etch process continues, sharp nano-sized doped diamond tip portions <NUM>, hereafter also referred to as nanotips, are formed in the diamond layer <NUM>, resulting in a 'hedgehog' tip structure illustrated in <FIG>. The nanotips <NUM> are distributed on the totality of the pyramid-shaped tip body <NUM> and on the diamond ground plane <NUM> around the tip body.

According to another etch procedure capable of obtaining the structure shown in <FIG>, the tip is first subjected to a short plasma etch using SF<NUM> or a mixture of SF<NUM> and O<NUM> as the plasma gas, for example for about <NUM>. This short 'flash' etch creates craters <NUM> in the SiOxCy layer <NUM>, as illustrated in <FIG>. This step is followed by an O<NUM> plasma etch as described above. The prior removal of a portion of the SiOxCy leads to a quicker exposure of the doped diamond layer <NUM>, so that the 'hedgehog' structure of <FIG> is obtained in an overall shorter timespan.

Apart from the SiOxCy layer <NUM> and the seed particles <NUM> acting as an etch mask, a third masking effect may occur during the plasma etch procedure itself. The energy of the plasma may release particles from materials inside the etch chamber and/or from the cantilever by sputtering, wherein said particles are deposited on the tip where they can also act as an etch mask for a given etch recipe. Also, polymeric etch residues deposited on the tip during the etch process may have the masking effect. In the particular case of a diamond tip produced by the above described molding technique on a Ni-cantilever, the sputtering of Ni particles from the cantilever may become an important contributor to the formation of the nanotips <NUM>. Ni-particles are released from the cantilever by sputtering under the influence of the ion bombardment generated by O<NUM>, SF<NUM> or SF<NUM>/O plasma. Also because of the bombardment with ions from the plasma, the pyramid gains static charge, resulting in an electric field, which attracts the Ni-particles. The Ni-particles are thereby deposited on the pyramid, but Ni is essentially not etched by SF<NUM> nor by O<NUM> plasma, so that the Ni-particles are also acting as etch masks in the same way as the seed particles <NUM> and SiOxCy layer portions <NUM>. The field is stronger where the surface is sharper, i.e. at the pyramid plane edges and mostly at the apex, so the concentration of Ni-particles is higher in these areas, which may be exploited for the production of specific tip structures (see further). When the dry etch is stopped sufficiently early, i.e. before etching away the nanotips <NUM> themselves, the three above-described masking effects, the SiOxCy <NUM>, the seed particles <NUM> and the Ni-particles have the combined effect of producing the 'hedgehog' structure illustrated in <FIG>. The SiOxCy and seed particle effects are more important at the start of the etch process, and may be the dominant processes in the case of thin diamond layers, e.g. about <NUM>. For thicker diamond layers, e.g. <NUM> micrometer, or full diamond tips, all three effects contribute to the formation of the nanotips <NUM> and the Ni-sputtering effect will become dominant after the SiOxCy and the seed particles have been etched away.

As stated, all three masking effects (seed particles <NUM>, SiOxCy layer <NUM> and sputtered particles or etch residues) may contribute to the formation of the 'hedgehog' structure in the case of diamond tip produced in a Si mold on a Ni cantilever. For tips produced from other materials and/or in molds of other materials, not all the above-described effects are necessarily occurring simultaneously. In the method of the invention, any one of the above masking effects may occur alone or in combination with the others. If the cantilever material is not a suitable etch mask, the sputtering effect is not or less relevant. It is also possible that a layer similar to the SiOxCy is not formed, or does not have a masking effect. The presence of seed particles in a mold is not always required, as is the case for a TiN probe tip, see further.

In the light of the above descriptions, it is clear that the 'mask layer' referred to in appended claim <NUM> may consist of various constituent parts. It comprises a layer of irregular thickness, like layer <NUM> in <FIG>, formed prior to the etch procedure. The masking layer may also comprise particles which contribute to the formation of this layer during the etch procedure itself. Also, the `layer of irregular thickness' referred to in the appended claims may have various compositions depending on the materials and fabrication process of the probe tip. The layer could consist only of seed particles, or it could consist only of compounds formed spontaneously on the tip body, such as oxides formed on a TiN probe tip, see further. The layer can be closed, so that none of the probe material is initially exposed to the plasma, but this probe material only becomes exposed when the mask layer is locally etched away. This necessarily occurs locally due to the irregular thickness of the layer. The layer of irregular thickness may also be a layer that exposes locally the underlying probe material from the start of the etch procedure, for example a layer consisting only of seed particles, with thickness zero in between the seed particles.

The etch procedures described above are stopped when the nanotips <NUM> have obtained a given shape and aspect ratio. In the case of the above-described O<NUM> plasma etch of a diamond tip, the O<NUM>-etch duration defines the shape of the nanotips. At first, the nanotips are cone-shaped pillars, as illustrated in <FIG>. As the etch process is applied longer, the nanotips become more needle shaped, due to a slight isotropy of the dry etch process. The etch time can thus be controlled to obtain a given shape. When the etch process is stopped, portions of the seed particles and/or the SiOxCy layer and/or of the sputtered particles may still be present on the nanotips. For some applications, these remnants of the etch mask are not a problem and they may remain. Otherwise, a slight oxygen overetch may burn away these remnants, or when the tip is used in an electrical SPM measurement, the remnant may be removed by briefly applying a high bias voltage or a high scanning force.

The drawing in <FIG> is a schematic representation. In reality, the number of nanotips <NUM> may be higher and the nanotips may be distributed more randomly across the diamond surface. The dimensions of the nanotips are in the order of nanometers, for example a height of about <NUM> to <NUM>. The radius of the apex area of the nanotips ranges from less than <NUM> up to a few nanometer, which is comparable to or better than the radius of a standard pyramid-shaped tip, but the nanotips are considerably smaller and more pointed than the tip body <NUM> prior to the etch procedure. In other words, the aspect ratio of the nanotips <NUM> is much higher compared to the aspect ratio of the apex area of the tip body <NUM> prior to the etch procedure. The aspect ratio of the apex area may be determined by approximating the apex area as a spherical surface and determining the aspect ratio as the ratio of the average diameter of the surface to its height. The aspect ratio of the nanotips may be calculated according to generally established definitions in accordance with the shape of the nanotips, for example as the ratio of the average width of a cone-shaped tip to the height of the tip. The method of the invention thus provides a way to produce a probe with increased aspect ratio of the tip portion that is actually in contact with the surface, and without requiring complex micromachining or other fabrication methods. The etch process is self-aligned, and requires no lithographic mask other than the particles, SiOxCy layer or other contributors to the mask layer referred to in appended claim <NUM>.

When the probe tip illustrated in <FIG> is used for probing a sample by SPM, the nanotip that enters into contact with the sample may be the outermost nanotip on the top of the pyramid, or one of the tips adjacent to it, dependent on the angular position of the probe. This type of probe is therefore very suitable for use in combination with a tiltable SPM head, known per se in the art. The fact that a plurality of nanotips <NUM> is present, ensures that at least one of these tips contacts the sample. The presence of multiple sharp nanotips also makes the probe tip according to the invention suitable for scratching a surface and removing material from the surface, as applied for example in the known 'scalpel AFM' technique. Another possible use of the tip produced by the invention and comprising multiple sharp nanotips is for attaching nano/micro objects such as biological cells to the sharp nano-tips. This is enabled by the known fact that a plurality of closely spaced nano-tips are capable of influencing the wettability of a surface.

The invention is not limited to the 'hedgehog' type structure described above. According to an embodiment, the dry etch process is continued until the nanotips <NUM> are etched away on the side planes of the pyramid. However, one or more nanotips <NUM> are nevertheless formed on the apex area of the tip body <NUM>, as schematically illustrated in <FIG>. This tip structure, referred to hereafter as the 'tip-on-tip embodiment' may be obtained by exploiting one or more effects, possibly occurring simultaneously. In the case of the diamond-coated tip/silicon mold/Ni cantilever setup described above, the sputtering of Ni particles from the cantilever during the etch process is one effect that contributes to this type of tip structure. As stated above, the electric field generated by the ion bombardment is stronger where the surface is sharper, i.e. at the pyramid plane edges and mostly at the apex. The field attracts the Ni particles, so there are more etch mask particles at the apex than on the sidewalls. As a consequence, while the diamond layer on the sidewalls is completely etched away, one or more sharp diamond tips <NUM> remain on the apex region. After the etch procedure, the tip body is therefore entirely formed by Ni, except for the sharp diamond tips <NUM> in the apex area.

A second contributor to this 'tip on tip' embodiment is the fact that the diamond layer may be thicker near the apex region compared to on the side planes of the pyramid. This is illustrated in <FIG>, which shows a cross-section of a diamond coated probe tip body, having a Ni core <NUM> and a doped diamond layer <NUM>. <FIG> also shows schematically the presence of the non-doped diamond seed particles <NUM> and of the SiOxCy layer <NUM>. It is seen that the thickness of the diamond layer, as measured in the direction perpendicular to the ground plane of the pyramid, is larger at the apex region (thickness a<NUM>) than on the sides of the pyramid (thickness a<NUM>). This may be a consequence of the deposition process applied for forming the diamond layer. When the dry etching process is continued until the diamond layer <NUM> is removed from the sides of the pyramid, a substantial diamond thickness remains on the apex area, due to the difference in thickness between a<NUM> and a<NUM>. This results in the appearance of one or more sharp tip portions <NUM> at the apex region only, as illustrated in <FIG>. The number of tip portions appearing depends on the exact distribution of the particles near the apex region. This embodiment therefore provides a straightforward way of producing a 'tip-on-tip' probe without requiring complex micromachining or other methods. The difference between the thicknesses a<NUM> and a<NUM> is not always occurring or may not be sufficient to obtain the above-described effect. It may depend on the average thickness of the layer <NUM> of the probe material (diamond or other), and/or on specific parameters applied when producing this layer.

The invention is applicable to the production of any type of probe suitable for SPM scanning, formed of any known material, for example Si and Si-compound tips or metal and metal alloy tips. The method is equally applicable to diamond tips other than boron-doped diamond tips, for example phosphor-doped diamond, non-doped diamond, NV (Nitrogen Vacancy) diamond. The inventors have produced a 'hedgehog' probe tip comprising nano-tips <NUM> formed of TiN on a Ni cantilever. The probe was fabricated by a molding technique similar to the methods described above. However instead of a diamond CVD layer, a TiN layer, about <NUM> thick was deposited in the Si mold by sputtering of TiN. No seed particles were deposited in the mold. The layer of irregular thickness formed on the TiN is initially an oxide layer that spontaneously forms on the outer surface of the TiN pyramid, after its release from the mold. The oxide works as an etch mask in a plasma etch process under mixed SF<NUM>/O<NUM> atmosphere, in the same way as the combined effect of the seed particles and SiOxCy described above, i.e. the oxide is slowly etched, so that the TiN layer underneath is locally exposed and subsequently etched at a faster rate. As the etch process progresses, sputtered Ni particles contribute to the mask layer, equally as described above. Exposure of the tip to a plasma etch under this atmosphere thereby produced the 'hedgehog' structure with TiN nanotips <NUM>. Details of suitable etch parameters are provided further in this description.

The invention is not limited to pyramid-shaped tips. The nanotips <NUM> may be produced on other tip geometries as well. <FIG> illustrates an in-plane probe as known for example from <CIT>. The image shows the cantilever <NUM> with a diamond tip body <NUM> extending outward from the cantilever and lying in the plane of the cantilever. <FIG> shows the same probe in a side view and a detail of the tip area, after applying an etch procedure. The nanotips <NUM> extend in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the cantilever <NUM> and the tip body <NUM>. Particles having the above-described mask effect may be deposited in a separate deposition step, and/or if the cantilever material is suitable for this purpose, masking particles may be deposited during the etching step itself, by sputtering of the cantilever material, and/or of material inside the etch chamber, and/or by the masking effect of etch residues.

A number of additional method steps may be performed after completion of the method according to any of the embodiments described above. These additional method steps include :.

In other words, after these additional steps, the capping layer forms a sleeve around the nanotips <NUM>, leaving the apex of the nanotips exposed, so that the function of the nanotips in an SPM apparatus or other application is not inhibited. The capping layer reinforces the nanotips, i.e. it increases the mechanical resistance of the nanotips, while the tips remain capable of performing their function. This embodiment is beneficial especially in high-force applications, where the capping layer helps to protect the nanotips from breaking off. On a diamond tip or diamond coated tip as described above, the capping layer may be an SiOx layer (<NUM><x<<NUM>) deposited on a hedgehog type probe tip as shown in <FIG> or on a 'tip-on-tip' probe tip as shown in <FIG>. The SiOx layer may be deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). The thickness of the SiOx layer may be in the order of a few tens of nanometer, e.g. about <NUM>. The etch process for removing the SiOx layer from the apex area may be a plasma etch using a mixture of SF<NUM> and O<NUM>. The etch process is stopped when at least the apex of the nanotips is exposed. A more detailed description of suitable parameters is described further in this description.

The additional steps as described in the previous paragraphs, for producing a capping layer on the one or more nanotips <NUM>, can be applied also on a 'tip-on-tip' probe as described in the prior art, i.e. a probe tip comprising nanotips on the apex area of the tip body, but wherein the nanotips are produced by a method other than the above-described method involving the production of these nanotips by a self-aligned etch process. For example, the capping layer may be produced by the same steps as described above, on a probe tip produced by the method described in document <CIT>. The present invention is therefore equally related to a method for producing a probe tip suitable for scanning probe microscopy (SPM), comprising the steps of :.

In view of the foregoing paragraphs, the disclosure equally includes a probe tip suitable for scanning probe microscopy (SPM), comprising a probe tip body having an apex area and comprising one or more tip portions on the apex area of the tip body, and no tip portions on the remainder of the tip body, the tip portions being considerably smaller and more pointed than the tip body, wherein the tip portions comprise a capping layer on their outer surface except on a tip area of the tip portions, the tip area comprising the apex of the tip portions. However, said probe tip does not form part of the claimed invention.

The example of suitable parameters for producing a capping layer described in the following section is applicable to a diamond probe tip of the 'tip on tip' type, produced by the self-aligned etch method, by the method of <CIT> or by any other method known in the art.

The inventors produced a diamond `full hedgehog' tip on a probe comprising a tip body produced by the above-described molding technique : Si mold, non-doped seed particles deposited in the mold (density about 1E10/cm<NUM>), Ni cantilever, diamond layer (about <NUM> thick) on Ni core. The following etch parameters were applied :.

A diamond 'tip on tip' probe as shown in <FIG> was produced on a probe tip produced by the same method, in the same ICP reactor, applying the same RF and ICP power and same chamber pressure, but by the following sequence of etch steps:.

The TiN full hedgehog tip referred to above was produced by the following etch conditions :.

On a `full hedgehog' tip with diamond tips obtainable by the parameters of table <NUM>, a SiOx layer was deposited by PACVD, with a thickness of about <NUM>. The tip was subsequently subjected to an SF<NUM>/O<NUM> plasma etch with the parameters shown in Table <NUM>.

The result was that the SiOx layer was removed from the apex of the nanotips, while forming a reinforcing capping layer around the lateral surface of the nanotips.

Claim 1:
A method for producing a probe tip suitable for scanning probe microscopy (SPM), comprising the steps of :
- Producing a probe tip body (<NUM>) comprising at least an outer layer (<NUM>) of a probe material, the tip body comprising an apex area,
- During the production process of the probe tip body and/or after said production process, forming a mask layer on said outer layer of probe material,
- subjecting the probe tip body (<NUM>) to a plasma etch procedure, wherein the mask layer acts as an etch mask for the etching of the probe material, and wherein the etch procedure and the etch mask are configured to produce one or more tip portions (<NUM>) formed of the probe material, the one or more tip portions being considerably smaller and having a higher aspect ratio than the apex area of the tip body (<NUM>) prior to the etch procedure,
and wherein :
- the mask layer comprises a layer of irregular thickness (<NUM>) formed prior to the etch procedure, wherein said layer of irregular thickness acts as an etch mask for the etching of the probe material,
- the tip body (<NUM>) is produced by producing a mold (<NUM>) in a substrate (<NUM>) and by depositing the probe material in the mold, wherein :
∘ seed particles (<NUM>) are deposited in the mold (<NUM>) prior to depositing the probe material therein, wherein the layer of irregular thickness (<NUM>) comprises the seed particles (<NUM>), and wherein the seed particles (<NUM>) are etched at a slower rate than the probe material,
and/or
∘ the layer of irregular thickness (<NUM>) comprises compounds formed spontaneously, e.g. by oxidation, on the surface of the tip body (<NUM>) after the production process of the tip body and prior to the etch procedure.