Control of apex shape of the fiber probe employed in photon scanning tunneling microscope by a multistep etching method

Author

Maheswari, Uma R. ; Mononobe, Shuji ; Ohtsu, Motoichi

Author_Institution

Kanagawa Acad. of Sci. &Technol., Japan

Volume

13

Issue

12

fYear

1995

fDate

12/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2308

Lastpage

2313

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss about the control of the shape of the very apex of a sharpened fiber probe used in photon scanning tunneling microscope (PSTM) by means of a method based on selective chemical etching. Under ambient conditions, through a multistep etching method proposed here, fiber probes with a flattened apex having a diameter of around 15-20 nm could be produced with high reproducibility. It has also been discovered that, during the etching process, the shape of the apex of the probe takes a rounded or a flattened shape with respect to the etching time in an almost cyclic fashion and such a phenomenon could help in understanding the mechanism of the etching process. These kind of probes with flat apex after metal coating are suitable for the fabrication of apertured probes used in PSTM and also for super tips which have a promising future as nanosensors in the fields of biology and biochemistry

Keywords

biosensors; etching; fibre optic sensors; optical fibre fabrication; optical microscopes; optical microscopy; scanning tunnelling microscopy; 15 to 20 nm; ambient conditions; biochemistry; biology; biosensors; cyclic fashion; etching process; etching time; fiber probe apex shape control; fibre optic sensors; flattened apex; flattened shape; high reproducibility; metal coating; multistep etching method; nanosensors; photon scanning tunneling microscope; selective chemical etching; sharpened fiber probe; Chemicals; Coatings; Etching; Fabrication; Microscopy; Optical control; Probes; Reproducibility of results; Shape control; Tunneling;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.475568

Filename

475568