One nanometer resolution electrical probe via atomic metal filament formation.

Abstract

Scanning probe microscopy has been widely used to investigate various interactions in microscopic nature. Particularly, conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) can provide local electronic signals conveniently, but the probe resolution of C-AFM has been limited by the tip geometry. Here, we improve the probe resolution greatly by forming an atomic-size metallic filament on a commercial C-AFM tip. We demonstrate ∼1 nm lateral resolution in C-AFM using the metal filament tip. The filament tip is mechanically robust and electrically stable in repeated scans under ambient conditions since it is imbedded in a stable insulating matrix. The formation of the atomic filament is highly controllable and reproducible and can be easily integrated to existing AFM tip technologies to produce the next generation of high-resolution electrical and other scanning probes.