Patent ID: 7482826

Claim:
A probe configured to scan over a substrate, comprising: terminals; a supporting structure that extends away from the terminals; at least one bridge element, including two reverse based diodes and a lateral cross-section including a sequence of a highly n-doped zone, a low n-doped zone, a highly p-doped zone and a highly n-doped zone, the at least one bridge element being configured to mechanically couple to and to electrically decouple the supporting structure from the terminals; a tip with an apex disposed thereon and having a radius of 10 nm or less or 20-40 nm; a beam structure including a heating resistor, which is mechanically attached at ends thereof to the supporting structure, and which is thinned at least in a direction parallel to an axis of the tip compared to an area of the supporting structure abutting the beam structure; and at least one dielectric and thermally insulating reinforcement beam, having a u-shaped cross-section tapering towards extremities thereof, attached to and extending fully along an extension of the beam structure and toward, but not along, the heating resistor, the reinforcement beam being configured to thereby mechanically reinforce the beam structure, wherein a distance from the heating resistor to each end of the beam structure is equal to or longer than half of a temperature decay length.