US 12,117,467 B2
Probe chip, scan head, scanning probe microscopy device and use of a probe chip
Roelof Willem Herfst, Capelle aan den IJssel (NL); Anton Adriaan Bijnagte, Tricht (NL); Albert Dekker, Delft (NL); and Jan Jacobus Benjamin Biemond, Barendrecht (NL)
Assigned to Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek TNO, 's-Gravenhage (NL)
Appl. No. 17/256,914
Filed by Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek TNO, 's-Gravenhage (NL)
PCT Filed Jul. 5, 2019, PCT No. PCT/NL2019/050421
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 29, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/009582, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 9, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 18182254 (EP), filed on Jul. 6, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0278436 A1, Sep. 9, 2021
Int. Cl. G01Q 70/02 (2010.01); G01Q 70/10 (2010.01)
CPC G01Q 70/02 (2013.01) [G01Q 70/10 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A probe chip for use in a scanning probe microscopy device for holding a probe mounted thereon, the probe chip including a carrier element having a probe bearing side, the probe bearing side being configured for bearing the probe to be extending therefrom as an integral or mounted part thereof, the carrier element further comprising a mounting side configured for mounting the probe chip onto a scan head of the scanning probe microscopy device,
wherein the mounting side extends in a longitudinal and lateral direction of the carrier element to be substantially flat, wherein the longitudinal direction is defined as a direction parallel to or coinciding with a direction wherein the probe is to be extending from the probe bearing side, and wherein the lateral direction is transverse to the longitudinal direction and transverse to a thickness of the carrier element,
wherein the carrier element, towards the probe bearing side thereof, exhibits truncation in the lateral direction on each side of a longitudinal axis through a center of the carrier element,
wherein the truncation is a narrowing of the carrier element towards the probe bearing side provided by cut-out portions that extend partly through the thickness of the carrier element but leave the mounting side intact, such that the mounting side is approximately as wide in the lateral direction at the probe-bearing side as the opposite side; and
wherein the truncation of the carrier element is shaped such that the amount of material of the carrier element in the lateral direction increases over a length of the carrier element towards a back part of the carrier element opposite the probe bearing side of the carrier element.