Development of conductive SPM probes for applications in Biology

In this work novel Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) probes have been designed and batch fabricated using standard microfabrication technologies. The author emphasizes that the capacitance gradient data between the fabricated probes and a conductive substrate, Highly Ordered Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) taken as a function of tip-sample distance show an excellent agreement with the Hudlet formula, which only takes the capacitance contribution from the tip-sample interaction, in a long range of tip-sample distances (beyond 350 nm). This shows the stray capacitance contribution of the cantilever has been reduced to non-detectable limit. The author underscores that this work could be used as a starting material for future research in the development ultra sharp, and noise free conductive SPM probes for applications in Biology, nanolithography and etc.