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 Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology 28 (2017) 32LT01 (9pp) https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/aa7a54

Letter

High aspect ratio sharp nanotip for

nanocantilever integration at CMOS
compatible temperature
P Wang, A Michael1 and CY Kwok
The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

E-mail: peng.wang3@unsw.edu.au, a.michael@unsw.edu.au and cy.kwok@unsw.edu.au

Received 22 March 2017, revised 14 June 2017

Accepted for publication 19 June 2017
Published 18 July 2017

Abstract
In this paper, we demonstrate a novel low temperature nanofabrication approach that enables the
formation of ultra-sharp high aspect ratio (HAR) and high density nanotip structures and their
integration onto nanoscale cantilever beams. The nanotip structure consists of a nanoscale
thermally evaporated Cr Spindt tip on top of an amorphous silicon rod. An apex radius of the tip,
as small as 2.5 nm, has been achieved, and is significantly smaller than any other Spindt tips
reported so far. 100 nm wide tips with aspect ratio of more than 50 and tip density of more than
5 × 109 tips cm–2 have been fabricated. The HAR tips have been integrated onto an array of
460 nm wide cantilever beams with high precision and yield. In comparison with other
approaches, this approach allows the integration of HAR sharp nanotips with nano-mechanical
structures in a parallel and CMOS compatible fashion for the first time to our knowledge.
Potential applications include on-chip high-speed atomic force microscopy and field emission
devices.
Keywords: nanotips, high aspect ratio tips, high density tips, spindt tips, nanocantilever

(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

1. Introduction substantial reduction in the driving voltage, which leads to

Nanotips are fundamental structures in many areas of
nanoscience and nanoengineering. As such, they have
become a subject of extensive research. Some of the notable
applications include scanning probe microscopy [1, 2] and
field emission devices [3]. Although requirements on the tips
vary depending on particular application, tip structures with
ultra-high sharpness, high aspect ratio (HAR) and high
density are highly desirable and critical for enabling better
system performance. In field emission applications, nanotips
are responsible for electrons emission at lower driving
voltage by enhancing the resulting electric field. The density
and sharpness of the tips are determinant factors for
1
Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed.
more stable operation and longer life times [4–7]. A canti-
lever integrated with a tip is used to obtain a high resolution
3D profile of a specimen surface in atomic force microscopy
(AFM) [1], define nanoscale patterns for nanolithography,
manipulate particles at subnano scale for nanomanufacturing
and high density data storage applications [8–10]. The most
sought after requirements in such AFM applications are high
speed, large scan size and high resolution. One way of
enhancing the operational speed of AFM is to reduce the
cantilever size. A smaller cantilever has higher resonant
frequency and hence bandwidth [1, 11]. Having an array of
cantilever probe tips for parallel imaging is another method
that further enhances scan speed and size [12–14]. For
improving resolution, tip sharpness plays a critical role
and ultra-sharp tips are desired. However, fabricating HAR

0957-4484/17/32LT01+09$33.00 1 © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

Nanotechnology 28 (2017) 32LT01
ultra-sharp tips on an array of small cantilevers with high
yield and density has been a real challenge. To add to this
challenge, the technology for integrating nanotip probe
structure in a post-CMOS process (or MEMS last) approach
is urgently required as it is critical for enhancing system
performance, miniaturization and cost reduction for appli-
cations like on-chip AFM [15] and AFM-like tip directed
field emission assisted nano-fabrication [8]. Therefore, a low
thermal budget fabrication path way is also an important
consideration in addition to enabling ultra-shape, HAR and
dense nanotips integrated with small cantilevers.
Most AFM tips are made from monocrystalline silicon by
wet or dry etching techniques [4, 16–20]. However, the
requirement of monocrystalline silicon makes this approach
not feasible for a post-CMOS processing. Furthermore, most
of these tips normally have a relatively small aspect ratio and
as such they are not suitable for small AFM cantilevers. A
typical approach to form tips on a small cantilever structure is
the electron beam induced deposition (EBID) process
[21, 22]. The drawback of EBID is that it is a low throughput
process which makes it unsuitable for high density and batch
fabrication. Silicon nano wires and carbon nanotubes have
also been fabricated as AFM tips [23, 24], but they require a
high temperature process that is not compatible with post-
CMOS-MEMS integration and the possibility of multiple tips
growing on a single cantilever with this approach leads to
relatively low reproducibility and controllability [23]. Spindt
nanotips, used typically in field emission applications [5–7],
are appropriate for low temperature processing. However,
these traditional Spindt tips are micro-size and are not parti-
cularly suited for integration with nanoscale wide cantilever
beams. Recently, nanoscale Spindt tips [8, 25] have been
reported, but they suffer from low aspect ratio and relatively
larger tip radius (about 10 nm) which are major drawbacks of
Spindt tips for high resolution AFM applications. It is
exceedingly difficult to form ultra-sharp Spindt tips with a
HAR. Therefore, a tip fabrication process that can improve
the tip sharpness and aspect ratio of Spindt tips, and can be
integrated on a small cantilever as a post-CMOS process is
required to pave the way for high speed on-chip parallel AFM
applications.
In this paper, we report for the first time the fabrication of
ultra-sharp, HAR and high density nanotips integrated with
nanoscale wide cantilever beams in a parallel fashion at a low
thermal budget based on thermally evaporated Cr Spindt tips.
In comparison to prior state of the art technologies, this
approach of using thermally evaporated nanoscale Cr Spindt
tips, using the Cr Spindt tips as self-aligned masks on
amorphous silicon to form HAR tip structures, and precise
integration of the nanotips on an array of cantilevers is
unique. As a result, the approach satisfies all the desired
requirements for fabricating tips for high speed on-chip par-
allel AFM system: ultra-sharp nanotip, high density, HAR,
precise integration with nano-scale cantilevers and low ther-
mal budget.
2
Figure 1. Fabrication process of the HAR nano-tips.
2. Experimental details
2.1. Fabrication of Cr Spindt tips
The fabrication process for Cr Spindt tips is illustrated in
figures 1(a)–(c). The Spindt tips are formed on a 6 μm thick
amorphous Si layer deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical
deposition (Oxford Plasmalab 100 PECVD) based on
Ar/SiH4 chemistry at 300 °C on top of 2 μm PECVD SiO2
coated on a silicon substrate (P-type). PMMA films of various
thicknesses (110–440 nm) are spin-coated on the substrate
and an array of circular openings of 50, 100 and 250 nm
diameters is defined on the PMMA using EBL (Raith-
150TWO). A Lesker thermal evaporator, with a Cr rod source
(Lesker 2″ long Cr-plated tungsten rods), is used to deposit Cr
on the patterned openings at a base pressure of 5 × 10−6 Torr
at a range of evaporation rates of 0.5, 0.8 and 1 Å s–1 with the
substrate kept at room temperature. The deposition pressures
changes only slightly from 4.8 × 10−6 to 5.5 × 10−6 Torr as
the evaporation rate varies from 0.5–1 Å s–1. Similarly, the
substrate temperature increases by a small amount of temp-
erature from 31 °C–33 °C for the deposition rates of 0.5 Å s–1
and 1 Å s–1, respectively. The Cr is evaporated until the
PMMA openings are completely closed with the cone shaped
tips inside cavities. The surface morphology of the Cr surface
on the closed cavities is obtained from AFM measurement.
After lifting off the Cr film in NMP(N-Methyl-2-Pyrroli-
done), the array of Cr tips is uncovered on the silicon sub-
strate. The dimensions and tip radii of 20 Cr tips for each
fabrication parameter are measured using the Raith-150TWO
SEM in imaging mode (10 kV and 26 pA) at a tilt angle of
45°. The constricting rate of the openings is also measured
while Cr is deposited before the openings are entirely closed.
Some of these samples are given a gentle oxygen ash fol-
lowed by FIB (FEI XP200) milling to uncover the shape of
the cavity for better understanding of the tip formation
process.
Nanotechnology 28 (2017) 32LT01
Figure 2. Fabrication process flow for integrating nanotips with nanocantilever.
2.2. Fabrication of HAR nanotips
Using the Cr Spindt tips of various size and spacing as masks,
the a-Si film is vertically etched down in a STS RIE-ICP
system to form self-aligned HAR structures having sharp tips
at the top of a tall cylindrical a-Si column (figure 1(d)). The
etching recipe consists of 50 sccm SF6 and 100 sccm of C4F8
at 20 mTorr, 170 W of coil power and 100 W of platen power
at 15 °C platen temperature. In order to achieve high aniso-
tropy as the aspect ratio increases, the gas flow ratio of the
recipe is varied. The details will be discussed in section 3.2.
2.3. Integration of HAR nanotips with nanocantilever
The integration process flow is illustrated in figure 2. 12 μm
long and 460 nm wide nanocantilevers and alignment marks
are first patterned on PMMA that is spin-coated on a SOI
wafer with a 220 nm thick active silicon layer using EBL. The
active silicon layer is then reactive ion etched with the
PMMA as a mask to define the silicon nanocantilevers
(figure 2(a)). A 100 nm thick PECVD SiO2 layer is deposited
3
at 300 °C on the Si nanocantilevers as an etch stop layer
followed by spin coating of a 280 nm thick PMMA
(figure 2(b)). An array of 70 nm circular openings are defined
on the PMMA by EBL at the tip of each nanocantilever, and
the SiO2 is reactive ion etched using the PMMA as a mask
(figure 2(c)). After the removal of the PMMA in NMP, 1 μm
of PECVD amorphous Si is deposited at 300 °C on top of the
thin PECVD SiO2 (figure 2(d)). Subsequently, another
280 nm thick PMMA layer is spin-coated on top of the
amorphous Si and another array of circular openings with the
required tip width of 100 nm is defined on the PMMA by
EBL precisely over the PECVD SiO2 openings (figure 2(e)).
It should be noted that the second openings on the PMMA
must be made wider than the first PECVD SiO2 openings in
order to avoid the silicon nanocantilevers from being etched
when defining the HAR tips subsequently. The Spindt tips are
then formed by thermally evaporating Cr until the opening are
completely closed and followed by Cr layer lift-off, which
leaves the Cr Spindt tips at the position where the second
PMMA openings are defined earlier (figure 2(f)). The
thermally evaporated Cr nanoscale Spindt tips are used as
Nanotechnology 28 (2017) 32LT01
Figure 3. SEM image of an array of Cr tips on a silicon substrate
with 50 nm pitch and width.
Figure 4. Tip radii as function of PMMA for various PMMA
opening diameters.
self-aligned masks to define the HAR silicon structures on the
Si nanocantilevers using ICP-RIE and the PECVD SiO2
(figure 2(g)). Finally, the Si nanocantilevers integrated with
HAR tips are released by HF vapor etch (figure 2(h)).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Cr Spindt tips
From the experimental works described in section 2.1, high
density and ultra-sharp nano-size Spindt tips have been fab-
ricated in this paper. Figure 3 shows the SEM image of an
array of Cr tips on a a-Si substrate with 50 nm spacing and
width, yielding an unprecedented density of 1010 tips cm–2.
To investigate the effect of the initial PMMA opening
diameter and thickness on tip sharpness, circular openings of
50, 100 and 250 nm diameters are patterned on 110, 175, 280
and 440 nm thick films. Cr is then evaporated at 0.8 Å s–1 to
form tips until the openings are completely closed and then
lifted-off. Figure 4 shows the measured average tip radii with
standard deviation as a function of PMMA thicknesses for the
various opening diameters. It can be seen from the results that
4
Figure 5. Tip radii versus 280 nm thick PMMA opening diameter for
various evaporation rates.
thinner PMMA layer gives rise to sharper tips for a given
opening diameter. The decrease in tip radius with PMMA
thickness is greater for smaller opening diameters. For a
PMMA opening diameter of 50 nm, the tip radius is reduced
by almost a factor of five as compared to only two for a
PMMA opening diameter of 250 nm when the PMMA film
thickness is decreased from 440–110 nm.
The results in figure 4 also show that the tip sharpness
can be improved by reducing the opening diameter of thin
PMMA. The tip radius is improved from 4.1–2.5 nm when
the opening diameter is decreased from 250–50 nm at 110 nm
thick PMMA. However, at thicker PMMA, the tip sharpness
is improved rather by increasing the opening diameter. The
tip radius is reduced from 15–9 nm when the opening dia-
meter is increased from 50–250 nm at 440 nm thick PMMA.
Various Cr evaporation rates of 0.5, 0.8, 1 and 2 Å s–1 are
used in studying the effect of the evaporation rate on tip
sharpness. Results indicate that the PMMA openings do not
close properly but rather crack if the evaporation rate exceeds
2 Å s–1 due to the highly tensile Cr film on PMMA. The
measured tip radii for 0.5, 0.8, and 1 Å s–1 Cr deposition rates
are presented in figure 5 for 280 nm thick PMMA opening
diameters of 50, 100 and 250 nm. In general, tip radius
reduces as PMMA opening diameter increases as observed
from each deposition rate although significant reduction is
noticed at 1 Å s–1. Furthermore, improvement in tip sharpness
occurs as deposition rate is reduced. The reduction of
deposition rate from 1–0.5 Å s–1 improves the tip sharpness
from 11–7 nm for an opening diameter of 50 nm. The
explanations for the trends in figures 4 and 5 will be discussed
later in this section.
It is important to note that in comparison to previously
reported Spindt tips which typically use electron beam eva-
poration or collimated sputtering techniques, thermally eva-
porated Cr Spindt tips have shown significant improvement in
terms of tip sharpness. Tip radius smaller than 3 nm is pos-
sible with thermally evaporated Cr as opposed to more than
10 nm for previously reported Spindt tips [5–8]. We con-
firmed this experimentally by fabricating a batch of of
E-beam evaporated Cr Spindt tips with 250 nm PMMA
opening diameter for two different thicknesses of 440 and
Nanotechnology 28 (2017) 32LT01
Figure 6. (a) Dimensions relevant to tip formation; (b) tip angle deviation versus PMMA thickness for various opening diameters; (c) tip
angle deviation versus PMMA opening diameter for various evaporation rates.
280 nm. The resulting average tip radius increased from
10–15 nm for PMMA thickness of 440 nm and from 5–13 nm
for PMMA thickness of 280 nm. We have also observed
significant improvement in reproducibility and yield from
thermally evaporated Cr Spindt tips.
In order to have a better understanding of the tip for-
mation, various dimensions of the fabricated tips have been
measured. The measured dimensions include tip height (htm),
tip width (tw) and initial tip angle (qi ) which is the angle that
the tip forms with the substrate as shown in figure 6(a). Other
dimensions are calculated from the measurements. They are
the ideal tip height (hti), effective tip angle (qt ), tip angle
deviation (α) and tip height deviation (htd). The effective tip
angle (qt ) is defined as an arctangent of tip height to half of tip
width. Measurements show that the initial tip angles (qi ) are
similar for the all fabricated tips and independent of initial
5
PMMA opening diameters, thicknesses, and Cr deposition
rates. This is expected because the initial tip angle is largely
determined by lateral sticking and diffusing probability of the
evaporated Cr atoms rather than geometric factors as
demonstrated in previously reported microscale Spindt tips
[6, 7]. The measured initial tip angle for the thermally eva-
porated Cr Spindt tips is 68° equivalent to an aspect ratio of
1.24 and close to the reported aspect ratio of 1.43 for
microscale Cr Spindt tips [6]. The tip angle deviation, α, is
calculated as the difference between initial tip angle, qi , and
effective tip angle, qt . Based on the initial tip angle and tip
width, the ideal tip height, hti, would be the height that have
been achieved by the tip if the initial tip angle (qi ) was to be
maintained throughout the formation of the tip. It is worth
noting that the ideal tip height, hti, is larger than the measured
tip height, htm, indicating slower deposition rate inside the
Nanotechnology 28 (2017) 32LT01

constricting aperture as the tip is being formed. The difference

between the ideal and measured tip height is defined as tip
height deviation, (htd), and can be related to tip angle devia-
tion, α, as follows
⎧ ⎫
⎪ h td ⎪
a = sin-1 ⎨ cos (qi )⎬. (1)
⎪ tw 2 ⎪
⎩ ( )
2
+ (h tm )2 ⎭
Using equation (1), the tip angle deviations are calculated for
the fabricated tips and plotted as a function of PMMA
thickness (figure 6(b)) and PMMA opening diameter
(figure 6(c)), which in turn relates to the corresponding tip Figure 7. Change in aperture radius for various Cr deposition and
compared with ideal aspect ratio of Spindt tip.
radius measurements of figures 4 and 5, respectively. As can
be observed from the figures, the tip angle deviations correlate
well with the tip radius plots. The implication is that the tip aperture diameter of 64 nm. The ratio of deposition Cr
angle deviation (α) is proportional to the tip radius with an thickness to change in aperture radius is 1.25. As shown in
average proportionality constant of 83 nm/radian. A tip figure 7, all the other points have a similar ratio and they
radius of 1.45 nm correlates to 1° of tip angle deviation. correlate well with the tangent of the initial tip angle (qi ).
The tip angle deviation is caused by the reduced Cr Figure 8(a) shows the SEM image of a sectioned cavity
deposition rate inside the cavity in which the nanotip is half-way through the formation of a Spindt tip by FIB milling,
formed as compared to the deposition rate outside the cavity. viewed from a 45° tilt angle. The aperture closes at an
As the opening diameter constricts, the number of Cr atoms inclined angle in an outward direction starting at the rim of
which are able to pass through the aperture into the cavity the initial opening. The shape of a cavity in which a tip is
reduces. This is because the angular distribution of Cr atoms formed can be modeled as shown in figure 6(a). Theoretically,
arriving at the opening is not entirely normal to the surface the inclined aperture closing angle (fi ) is expected to be close
to the initial tip angle (qi ) as it is governed by the lateral and
and Cr deposit begins to build up on the top edge of the
transversal deposition rates, a characteristic observed in pre-
openings, thereby reducing the aperture diameter. As Cr
viously reported microscale Spindt tips [7]. In nanoscale
continues to build up, the aperture constricts further. This will
Spindt tips studied in this paper, however, the aperture closing
affect the deposition rate of Cr on the tip, depending on the
angle (fi ) is smaller than the initial tip angle (qi ). The con-
proximity of the tip from the aperture. Hence, Spindts tips
sequence of the smaller aperture closing angle is to improve
formed from thin PMMA will result in sharper tips (smaller
the proximity of the tip from the rim of the constricting
tip radius) whereas thicker PMMA produces Spindts of larger
aperture and the tip. The improvement in proximity means
tip radius. Others have referred to this as the constricting edge
that more Cr atoms are likely to be deposited on the tip
closer to the forming tip where the penumbra effect of the
leading to increased Cr deposition rate and thus improved
incident Cr atoms is reduced [26]. This explains the observed
tip sharpness. In addition to this geometrical effect, the tip
tip sharpness behavior with PMMA thickness in figure 4 in
sharpness is also influenced by the kinetic energy of Cr
which the tip radius increases with increase in the PMMA
ad-atoms that affects the surface diffusing probability of Cr
thickness for a given opening diameter. In addition to thicker
atom when deposited on the tip surface. The higher the kinetic
PMMA, faster Cr evaporation rate also leads to fewer Cr
energy is, the higher the surface diffusing probability is and
atoms reaching the tips as can be seen from the increase in tip
thus the larger the tip radius becomes. It has been reported
deviation angle when the evaporation rate is increased in
that thermally evaporated atoms have lower kinetic energy
figure 5(c). This may be attributed to the wider angular dis-
than e-beam evaporated and sputtered ad-atoms [27]. This
tribution of thermally evaporated Cr atoms at faster eva-
may also contribute to the observation of sharper Spindt tips
poration rates [27]. This explains the trend in figure 5 in
resulting from thermal evaporation reported in this paper.
which the increase of tip radius is observed with an increase
Figure 8(b) shows an AFM measurement performed on
in deposition rate. It is also worth noting that the effect of
the top of a closed cavity. It indicates that the surface
deposition pressure and substrate temperature on tip radius is
morphology of the closed cavity has a concave profile with
minimal as the deposition pressure and substrate temperature
downward slope towards the center implying that the aperture
change only very slightly with deposition rates.
constriction occurs below the upper surface, correlating well
In addition to tip dimensions, the ratio of aperture con-
with the measured smaller aperture closing angle.
stricting rate to the Cr evaporation rate is also measured based
on the change in the radius of the constricting aperture and the
deposited Cr thickness. The result is provided in figure 7 with 3.2. HAR nanotips
initial PMMA opening diameter shown in brackets. For
instance, consider the point for 176 nm PMMA initial open- From the experimental works described in section 2.2, an
ing diameter. After 138 nm of Cr deposition, the aperture has array of 100 nm wide tips of 1 and 5 μm heights have been
constricted by 112 nm (2 × 56 nm), leaving behind of an fabricated and shown in figures 9(b), (c), demonstrating the

6
Nanotechnology 28 (2017) 32LT01

Figure 8. (a) SEM image of FIB milled tip cavity at 45° view; (b) AFM image of the top surface of closing aperture.

Figure 9. Tips array viewed at 45°: (a) a array of 100 nm wide Spindt tip with 100 nm pitch (b) 1 μm long 100 nm wide tips with 100 nm
pitch (c) 5 μm long 100 nm wide tips (d) 3 μm long 200 nm wide tips (e) 5 μm long 200 nm wide tips.

capability of the method in achieving aspect ratios ranging
from 10:1 to 50:1. The key to enabling such HAR sharp tips
is the development of RIE-ICP etching recipe with high
degree of anisotropy and high selectivity between Si and Cr.
The RIE-ICP etching recipe used in this work is based on
SF6/C4F8 plasma chemistry rather than the typical Bosch
process. Sidewall scalloping in the Bosch process limits its
usefulness for HAR etching in the nano-scale regime. The
starting recipe exhibits an exceptionally high selectivity
between Si and Cr. A 10 nm Cr film is barely reduced in
thickness when silicon is etched deeper than 100 μm yielding
selectivity well above 1:10 000. This recipe produced vertical
structures of up to 1 μm tall as shown in figure 9(b). How-
ever, further increase in etching depth starts to produce
significant negative angle as evidenced from the SEM image
in figure 9(d) and the recipe is found to be unsatisfactory for
etching depth of more than 1.5 μm.
The recipe is then modified so as to gradually increase
the flow rate of C4F8 from 100–130 sccm through the duration
of the etching. By this modification, the formation of 5 μm
tall tips with slightly positive taper at bottom is shown in
figure 9(e). The slight positive taper at the bottom may be
necessary to increase the mechanical stiffness of the tips.
Based on the modified process, 5 μm tall and 100 nm wide Cr
tips have been fabricated yielding aspect ratio of 50 with tip
radius of 6 nm, as shown in figure 9(c). From the etching
profile, it can be seen that the a-Si body is slightly wider than
the Cr tip width. This is due to polymer deposition on the tip

7
Nanotechnology 28 (2017) 32LT01
Figure 10. SEM image of array of HAR nanotips integrated with
array of nanocantilever viewed at 45°.
producing wider mask than the width of Spindt Cr tip.
Polymer deposition from C4F8 is expected to provide con-
formal coating on the tip surface. However, the etching due to
SF6 has a high degree of anisotropy as evidenced by the
vertical etch. The combination of conformal polymer
deposition, high degree of anisotropic etching, and inclined
surface of Spindt tips, whose slope is 68°, presents a rela-
tively thicker polymer layer to be etched on the inclined
surface than on the flat surface. This not only serves to protect
tip sharpness but also enhances further the selectivity of Cr
to Si.
The HAR tips fabricated using the modified recipe
showed excellent reproducibility and high density. A two
dimensional tip array with 100 nm diameter and 100 nm
spacing providing a very high density of more than 5 × 109
tips cm–2 has been demonstrated as shown in figures 9(a), (b).
It is important to note that we are not aware of any report of
such high density HAR tips.
3.3. HAR nanotips integrated with nanocantilever
The HAR ultra-sharp tips integrated on an array of 460 nm
wide silicon nanocantilevers in a parallel fashion with precise
alignment is shown in figure 10 and described in section 2.3.
The height, width and apex radius of the integrated nanotips
are 1.2 μm, 100 nm, and 5 nm, respectively. The alignment of
such nanoscale features with HAR tips is key in the inte-
gration process and is extremely challenging.
Although the integration is demonstrated with Si nano-
cantilever beams, the fabrication process is compatible with
other nanomechanical structures. Because of its low temper-
ature processing steps, the approach is particularly attractive
for post-CMOS integration. By using this approach, it is
possible to form cantilever probe that can achieve
significantly higher resonant frequency than existing and
commercially available smallest cantilevers (Olympus
BL-AC7DS-KU5) while maintaining the same spring
constant and integrating a sharper and higher aspect ratio
nanoprobe. The effect of integrating HAR tips on the resonant
frequency of the nanocantilever is studied using COMSOL
8
simulation and shows only a slight reduction at a rate of
0.35 MHz per 1 μm tip height.
4. Conclusion
This paper presents a novel approach in the fabrication of
ultra-sharp high density HAR tips that are suitable for inte-
gration with nanoscale structures at a low thermal budget
which is attractive for post CMOS-MEMS integration.
Thermally evaporated Cr Spindt tips have been able to pro-
vide sharper tips than those previously reported Spindt tips.
The Cr Spindt tips are used as a self-aligned mask on an
amorphous silicon film to form HAR sharp tips using RIE-
ICP with a SF6/C4F8 chemistry that is able to achieve high
selectivity of Si to Cr, exceeding 10 000:1. Ultra-sharp
nanoprobe with less than 5 nm apex radius, more than 50:1
aspect ratio and high density (5 × 109 cm–2 nanotips) have
been fabricated. Integration of the HAR tips on an array of
460 nm wide nanocantilever beams have been demonstrated,
setting a bench mark for the smallest cantilever tip with
enhanced resonant frequency, tip sharpness while maintaining
low spring constant. Although the approach uses amorphous
silicon for tip formation and single crystalline silicon for the
cantilever beam, it does not exclude the possibility of using
polysilicon or silicon nitride for the cantilever structure.
Possible applications of these nanoprobes include scanning
probe microscopy, field emission, and gene and drug delivery
to cells.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the Australian
National Fabrication Facility NSW node, where the micro-
fabrication work was carried out. Authors also acknowledge
the support of the School of Electrical Engineering and
Telecommunications.
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