An Optimal Condition of Diamond Stylus by Ion Beam Machining

This paper describes a process to machine tip radius of diamond stylus as surface roughness measurement using ion sputter. The ion sputter machining produces a similar shape as the original stylus. It also controls the parameter using the current density, machining time, incidence angle of the ion beam. As the result, a stylus of any tip radius can be machined as requested. In this paper, the ion beam process is used to produce a diamond stylus with a radius of 2 μm and angle of 90°. The optimal machining condition is resulted with a radius of less than 0.5 μm. With this result, efficiency of machining reaches to 93%.