Patent ID: 7691298

Claim:
A method for producing plastic cantilevers, comprising: (a) providing a master cantilever having a tip; (b) covering the master cantilever with a mold material, with the tip of the master cantilever extending into the mold material; (c) removing the master cantilever from the mold material to reveal a mold cavity having a tip forming cavity; (d) filling the tip forming cavity with a tip material and filling the remainder of the mold cavity with a plastic cantilever material to form a plastic cantilever having a tip formed of the tip material; and (e) removing the plastic cantilever and tip from the mold cavity and tip forming cavity wherein the plastic cantilever having a tip has a shaft portion and the tip extends downwardly from the plane defined by the shaft portion such that the plastic cantilever is adapted for use in force microscopy, and further wherein the step of covering the master cantilever with a mold material includes pouring liquid mold material onto the master cantilever and then curing the liquid mold material into a solid mold material.