Ultracompliant thermal probe array for scanning non-planar surfaces without force feedback

This paper describes an array of micromachined thermal probes for scanning thermal microscopy for which the structural design and choice of materials virtually eliminate the need for z-axis mechanical feedback in contact mode scans. The high mechanical compliance accommodates significant topographical variation in the sample surface and prevents damage to soft samples. Thin film metal bolometers are molded into tips at the end of each cantilever in the array, and are sandwiched between two layers of polyimide that serves as the structural material. The probes overhang a Si substrate on which they are fabricated. Since integrated actuators and accompanying circuitry are no longer required, the prospect of scaling from the present eight-probe version to large numbers of probes for high speed, high resolution thermal mapping of large areas with simple detection circuitry is enhanced. The scalability and performance of the eight-probe prototype are evaluated, addressing issues of speed versus resolution, and thermal and mechanical decoupling. The results demonstrate that contact mode scans can provide better than 2 μm spatial resolution at speeds greater than 200 μm s−1 and show a 6.5 bit topographical resolution over a 7 μm dynamic range. Line scans obtained with a single-shank probe suggest that there are good prospects of obtaining images showing a lateral spatial resolution of less than 50 nm.