TY - JOUR A1 - Hosseini, Nahid A1 - Neuenschwander, Matthias A1 - Peric, Oliver A1 - Andany, Santiago H. A1 - Adams, Jonathan D. A1 - Fantner, Georg E. T1 - Integration of sharp silicon nitride tips into high-speed SU8 cantilevers in a batch fabrication process JF - Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology PY - 2019/// VL - 10 SP - 2357 EP - 2363 SN - 2190-4286 DO - 10.3762/bjnano.10.226 PB - Beilstein-Institut JA - Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. UR - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.10.226 KW - Atomic force microscopy (AFM) KW - durability KW - imaging speed KW - polymer cantilever KW - silicon nitride tip N2 - Employing polymer cantilevers has shown to outperform using their silicon or silicon nitride analogues concerning the imaging speed of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in tapping mode (intermittent contact mode with amplitude modulation) by up to one order of magnitude. However, tips of the cantilever made out of a polymer material do not meet the requirements for tip sharpness and durability. Combining the high imaging bandwidth of polymer cantilevers with making sharp and wear-resistant tips is essential for a future adoption of polymer cantilevers in routine AFM use. In this work, we have developed a batch fabrication process to integrate silicon nitride tips with an average tip radius of 9 ± 2 nm into high-speed SU8 cantilevers. Key aspects of the process are the mechanical anchoring of a moulded silicon nitride tip and a two-step release process. The fabrication recipe can be adjusted to any photo-processable polymer cantilever. ER -