Leland Stanford Junior University

Thomas E Carver

Thomas R Albrecht

Shinya Akamine

Mark J Zdeblick

Olav Solgaard

Nina Vaidya

A fabrication process includes: 1) forming an object by 3D printing; 2) smoothing the object by applying a gel to the object to coat at least a portion of the object with a film of the gel; 3) subjecting the object coated with the film to vacuum; and 4) curing the film to yield the object coated with the cured film.

Device fabrication using 3D printing

A dielectric cantilever arm stylus with an integrally formed pyramidal tip is provided. The tip is molded in a pyramidal pit etched in a later-removed (100) silicon substrate. An integrally-formed cantilever arm is also formed as the tip is being formed. Various thin film materials form the cantilever arm and the tip. In one embodiment of the invention, the dielectric is silicon nitride. The cantilever arm is anodically bonded to a glass block.

Microfabricated cantilever stylus with integrated pyramidal tip

Method of forming microfabricated cantilever stylus with integrated

Integral sharp tips on thin film cantilevers are produced by forming a rectangular silicon post on a (100) silicon wafer. Etching the top of the post leaves sharp silicon tips at the corners of what remains of the silicon post. A silicon dioxide cantilever with an integral tip is thermally grown over the silicon wafer and the sharp silicon tips.

Microminiature cantilever stylus

A microminiature tip and tip assembly is fabricated using microelectronic fabrication techniques. A masking aperture is formed in a dielectric layer which overlies a (100) silicon substrate. For a square aperture, a pyramidal pit is anisotropically etched into the surface of the silicon substrate. Tungsten is selectively deposited in the pit to form a pyramid-shaped microminiature point. Continued deposition of tungsten fills the aperture to form a base portion of the tip which integrally locks the tip to the dielectric layer, which is fabricated to form a support member for the tip.

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Thomas E Carver