Patent ID: 8681596

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a semiconductor wafer including circuitry therein; one or more scanning probes integrally formed on the semiconductor wafer, wherein each of the one or more scanning probes comprises a cantilever beam with a fixed end and a free end and a sharpened tip at or near the free end, wherein each of the one or more scanning probes is operably coupled to circuitry within the semiconductor wafer, and wherein the circuitry includes sensing and amplification circuitry to receive and amplify signals from the sharpened tip, the sharpened tip formed on the cantilever beam that is operably coupled to the circuitry within the semiconductor wafer by a process comprising: forming an unsharpened tip at or near the free end of each cantilever beam, wherein the unsharpened tip is formed of amorphous silicon, depositing a silicide-forming material over the unsharpened tip, annealing the unsharpened tip, wherein silicide is formed from at least a portion of the silicide-forming material during the annealing to sharpen the tip, and removing the formed silicide from the sharpened tip.