Diamond force microscope tips fabricated by chemical vapor deposition

A chemical vapor deposition method is described for fabricating force microscope cantilevers with single-crystal diamond tips. The ≂1-μm-diam diamond tips have corner radii of 30 nm, and have been used to study diamond–diamond friction on well-characterized surfaces in UHV. The tip size and orientation can be determined by electron microscopy without altering the surface atomic structure.