Transplanting assembly of carbon-nanotube-tipped atomic force microscope probes

Carbon-nanotube (CNT)-tipped atomic force microscope (AFM) probes were assembled in a deterministic and reproducible manner by transplanting a CNT bearing polymeric carrier to a microelectromechanical systems cantilever. Single-strand CNTs were grown vertically at predefined locations where each CNT...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Soohyung, Kim, Lee, Hyung Woo, Kim, Sang-Gook
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: American Institute of Physics 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/75217
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3125-3268
Description
Summary:Carbon-nanotube (CNT)-tipped atomic force microscope (AFM) probes were assembled in a deterministic and reproducible manner by transplanting a CNT bearing polymeric carrier to a microelectromechanical systems cantilever. Single-strand CNTs were grown vertically at predefined locations where each CNT was encapsulated into a cylindrical polymer carrier block. Double-layer carriers were used for controlling the release of blocks and the exposed length of CNT tips after the assembly. Much reduced complexity in assembly was achieved by transplanting individual CNTs to AFM probes, which could scan nanotrenches and biostructures with little probe artifacts.