process for the manufacture mikromechanischer messfuehler for afm / stm profilometrie and mikromechanischer messfuehlerkopf.

摘要

A method is described for producing micromechanical sensors for the AFM/STM profilometry, which consist of a cantilever beam with a tip at its end and a mounting block at the opposite, comprising: 1. bilaterally coating a wafer substrate with a layer of inorganic material ; 2. producing a mask for the desired cantilever beam pattern on the top side of the wafer and in the upper part of said layer; and a mask in said layer on the bottom side of the wafer, using a first photolithographic step and an etching step; 3. planarizing said cantilever beam pattern with photoresist; 4. producing a mask for the desired tip in the area of the cantilever beam pattern using a second photolithographic step, producing the desired tip using an etching step, and simultaneously transferring the cantilever beam pattern from the upper to the lower part of said layer; and 5. removing the supporting wafer material by anisotropic wet etching through the bottom side mask. In a second example a mask is produced for the desired cantilever beam pattern and the tip pattern. This mask which contains all relevant informations for a subsequent substrate etching process is transferred step by step into a silicon substrate. Between two successive substrate etching process steps there is a mask etching step which does not require an additional lithography step however. A third example describes a process for making monocrystalline monolithic silicon tips on silicon pedestals. The invention also comprises a micromechanical sensor for the AFM/STM profilometry which is micromechanically manufactured from one piece of material.