Simulations and experiments on the fabrication of silicon tip

Abstract

Abstract Simulations and experiments on three kinds of Si tip fabrication techniques had been done, which are Anisotropic Dry Etching (ADE), Anisotropic Wet Etching (AWE) and AWE combining with bonding. The simulation results showed that the parameters applied in the ADE and AWE should be controlled much more precisely tha n AWE combining with bonding to get expected tips. The expe riments prove that the parameters of fabricating silicon tip by ADE and AWE have little tolerance. The conclusions on AWE combining with bonding drew from simulations are verified in the detail exp eriments.From the simulations and experiments, excellent reliability and control lability are witnessed in AWE combining with bonding and a tip with top diameter within 23.44nm had been achieved.Key words: silicon tip, anisotropic dry etching, anisotropic wet etching, bonding 1. Introdu ction Micro tip is the most important component in the field of micro/nano.It has been wildly used in the STM and AFM since1980s