Focused ion beam as tool for atomic force microscope (AFM) probes sculpturing

The fabrication of novel atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes for nanoindentation and nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is presented. Nanomachining induced by focused ion beam (FIB) were employed in order to modify the original tip shape of commercial silicon AFM probes. The FIB-modified probes are used both to perform experiments as to image the corresponding tip-induced surface modifications. With this approach, a relationship between the hardness of a material and the shape of the indenter has been found in the nanoindentation application, and we have obtained information related to the force acting on the mold during its detaching from the polymer film in the AFM-NIL application.