Accuracy improvement of protrusion angle of carbon nanotube tips by precision multiaxis nanomanipulator

In order to manufacture a carbon nanotube (CNT) tip in which the attachment angle and position of CNT were precisely adjusted, a nanomanipulator was installed inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM). A CNT tip, atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe to which a nanotube is attached, is known to be the most appropriate probe for measuring the shape of high aspect ratio. The developed nanomanipulator has two sets of modules with the degree of freedom of three-directional rectilinear motion and one-directional rotational motion at an accuracy of tens of nanometers, so it enables the manufacturing of more accurate CNT tips. The present study developed a CNT tip with the error of attachment angle less then 10° through three-dimensional operation of a multiwalled carbon nanotube and an AFM probe inside a SEM.