<title>Microelectromechanical force probe array</title>

Abstract

The largest array (12 X 12) of microelectromechanical probe tips with integrated actuators and capacitive sensors for scanning probe microscopy has been designed, fabricated, and characterized. Each array element consists of a single crystal silicon tip on a torsional cantilever with out-of- plane interdigitated electrode capacitors. In addition, the size of each array element is about 150 micrometers by 150 micrometers with a tip-to-tip spacing in the array of 200 micrometers . Give these dimensions, the packing density of the devices is about 2500 units/cm<SUP>2</SUP>. The out-of-plane torsional design allows for significant improvement in performance (larger tip displacement and increased sense capacitance) and a higher density of devices per unit area as the minimum feature size decreases. Applications such as information storage, molecular manipulation, and nanolithography require high density, parallel arrays for reasonable throughput.