Fabrication of AFM probe with CuO nanowire formed by stress-induced method

A novel method to fabricate an atomic force microscope (AFM) probe with CuO nanowire was proposed using a stress-induced method which can form nanowire easily. By heating a commercial AFM probe which is eliminated its tip and is coated with Ta and Cu films, Cu hillock and CuO nanowires on the hillock can be formed at the probe end. To obtain the CuO nanowire of high aspect ratio that can use as an AFM probe tip, thickness of coating films, heating temperature and heating time were investigated. As the result, the probe tip approximately 5 μm high and the nanowire approximately 25 nm in diameter were successfully obtained. In the results that the measurement resolution was evaluated, the measurement resolution of the CuO nanowire probe slightly worse than that of a commercial AFM probe. However, from the viewpoint of the dimensional measurement, the precision was almost equal between both probes.