Title: Shortening carbon nanotube-tipped AFM probes

Authors: Daniel J. Burns, Kamal Youcef-Toumi

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Abstract: A method is presented to indirectly measure and shorten Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) grown from the tips of Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) probes. The measurement component exploits the nanotubes ability to elastically buckle and requires only those signals and actuators available on a standard AFM. The shortening operation is facilitated by electric arcing using a conducting niobium substrate. The shortening operation produces stable CNTs at the tips of AFM probes which can then be functionalised for use as high-resolution, chemically specific force probes. An application to AFM-based DNA sequencing is also discussed.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes; CNT shortening; atomic force microscopy; AFM; force probes; DNA sequencing; nanomanufacturing; nanotechnology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2007.017996

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2007 Vol.1 No.6, pp.799 - 809

Published online: 25 Apr 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article