Helium ion beam induced growth of hammerhead AFM probes

The authors report the direct-write growth of hammerhead atomic force microscope(AFM) probes by He+beam induced deposition of platinum-carbon. In order to grow a thin nanoneedle on top of a conventional AFM probe, the authors move a focused He+beam during exposure to a PtC precursor gas. In the final growth stage, a perpendicular movement of the...

Characterizing size-dependent effective elastic modulus of silicon nanocantilevers using electrostatic pull-in instability

This letter presents the application of electrostatic pull-in instability to study the size-dependent effective Young’s Modulus ? ( ~170–70?GPa) of [110] silicon nanocantilevers (thickness ~1019–40?nm). The presented approach shows substantial advantages over the previous methods used for characterization of nanoelectromechanical systems...