Patent ID: 7767101

Claim:
A method of fabricating a probe tip for use in a scanning probe microscope, comprising the steps of: (a) forming a triangular prism provided with a passivation film by patterning a {111} general silicon wafer, the passivation film being deposited on two sidewalls of the triangular prism; (b) etching the silicon wafer to make the triangular prism into a probe tip of a triangular pyramid shape; and (c) removing the passivation film, wherein the step (a) includes the steps of: (a-1) depositing a triangular mask layer on the silicon wafer; (a-2) forming a trench in a peripheral portion of two sides of the triangular mask layer; (a-3) depositing the passivation film entirely on the triangular mask layer and the trench and an upper surface and a lower surface of the silicon wafer; (a-4) removing the passivation film on the upper surface of the silicon wafer; (a-5) etching the silicon wafer to form a triangular prism by using the mask layer as a pattern; and (a-6) removing the mask layer and the passivation film formed on the side surfaces of the mask layer.