Patent ID: 8661560

Claim:
An electrical probe, comprising: a handle; a cantilever supported at a fixed end thereof by the handle and including a metal tip having an apex, projecting downwardly and transversely from a free end of the cantilever, wherein the cantilever includes a conducting path extending along the cantilever from the handle and electrically connected to the metal tip, an upper dielectric layer and a lower dielectric layer extending along the cantilever and sandwiching the conducting path, and an upper metal layer and a lower metal layer extending along the cantilever and disposed on respective outer sides of the upper and lower dielectric layers, wherein at least a portion of the metal tip and a portion of the lower metal layer extend along a horizontal axis with a gap therebetween on the horizontal axis and wherein an upper surface of the portion of the metal tip and an upper surface of the portion of the lower metal layer are co-planar in a horizontal plane parallel to the horizontal axis, and wherein the portion of the metal tip adjacent its upper surface and a portion of the lower metal layer adjacent its upper surface comprise at least one common composition.