Diamond as Advanced Material for Scanning Probe Microscopy Tips

摘要

Synthetic diamond and conductive, doped forms of diamond are ideally suited materials for scanning probe microscopy tips due to their inherent physical, chemical, and mechanical properties. In particular for atomic force microscopy (AFM) and related techniques, which require a conductive tip in permanent contact to the sample surface, boron-doped diamond (BDD) is an excellent material. Only few examples have so far been demonstrated using boron-doped diamond microelectrodes as probes for scanning electrochemical microscopy (SEM) or AFM-SECM. This review focuses on the state-of-the-art using diamond-coated SPM tips and conductive boron-doped diamond as probe material discussing advantages and disadvantages.