Patent ID: 7500387

Claim:
A method of producing an atomic force microscopy probe, the probe comprising a tip configuration with two probe tips on a cantilever arm, said probe tips being electrically isolated from each other and having approximately the same height with respect to the cantilever arm, the outer surface of the tip configuration having the shape of a body with a base plane and an apex, the body being divided into two sub-parts by a gap located approximately symmetrically with respect to the apex and approximately perpendicular to the base plane, the method comprising: providing a substrate produced from a material with a crystal structure capable of being anisotropically etched, producing a trench in the substrate, the trench comprising an elongated cross-section in the plane of the substrate and walls which are approximately perpendicular to the substrate surface into which the trench is produced, and wherein the trench has a predefined orientation with respect to the crystal structure, filling the trench with a material which is resistant to anisotropic etching of the substrate material, thereby forming a wall, anisotropically etching the substrate material on both sides of the wall, wherein the predefined orientation is such that the etching process produces a pyramid-shaped mold in the substrate surface, with the wall in the middle of the mold, one diagonal of the approximately square-shaped base of the pyramid-shaped mold approximately coinciding with the longitudinal center line of the wall, depositing a layer of conductive material on the substrate, removing the layer of conductive material from the top of the wall and from an area around the mold while leaving conductive material at least inside the mold, and removing the wall material selectively with respect to the conductive material, yielding the two sub-parts of the tip configuration, these parts being electrically isolated from each other.