Feasibility Studies on a Nanometric Oscillator Fabricated by Surface Diffusion for Use as a Force Detector in Scanning Force Microscopy

A metal ball supported by a nanometric filiform neck, made by surface diffusion in vacuum, has the potential to be used as an oscillating force detector in scanning force microscopy. Although in most cases, the oscillator is extremely fragile and does not survive the transport from one vacuum chamber to the other, there still remains the possibility that it can be used if fabricated and utilized in situ. With the aim of characterizing the oscillator without breaking the vacuum, we have made a scanning tunneling/force microscope (STM, SFM) with a heating filament for fabrication of the oscillator in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The formation of the oscillator was observed with the SEM, and then, the tip of the STM/SFM was used for the application of force to verify its feasibility as an oscillator.