Patent ID: 7945966

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a nanoprobe from a silica optical fibre, the method comprising: plunging an end of said silica optical fibre into a chemical medium intended for etching in order to obtain a silica cone; cleaning said silica cone, wherein said cleaning comprising sub-steps of: placing said optical fibre on the axis of a substantially cylindrical hollow cathode, and generating a beam of electrons in said hollow cathode; depositing an opaque film made of a conductive material, on said silica cone of the silica optical fibre, wherein the steps of depositing the opaque film comprises sub-steps of: placing said silica optical fibre on an axis of said substantially cylindrical hollow cathode, wherein said cathode comprises the conductive material; and spraying said conductive material on said silica cone with the aid of a plasma in order to obtain said opaque film; and following the depositing of the opaque film, producing said aperture at the end of said silica cone, wherein said aperture is produced by a flat-tip filamentary discharge between the end of said silica cone covered with said metallic sheath and a substantially flat surface in order to obtain said aperture at the end of said silica cone, wherein said nanoprobe comprises said silica optical fibre having an end aperture with a diameter of less than 100 nm, and a metallic sheath, wherein the total diameter of said silica optical fibre and of said metallic sheath is less than 300 nm.