Corporate Research & Development Center

Nano/Microelectromechanical Systems Probe

Novel devices, such as nanopattern drawing devices and data-storage and memory devices having probes with nanoscale electric contacts in the tip, are being proposed that have the potential to surpass the performance of conventional devices. The main obstacle to the commercialization of these devices is considered to be the durability and reliability of sliding between the probe tip and the object with which it is in contact.

Toshiba has established a quantitative evaluation technology focusing on the electrical contact characteristics of a probe before and after sliding in order to reveal friction and wear characteristics at the nano scale, which are significantly different from those at the macro scale.

Utilizing this evaluation technology, we have developed a wear-resistant probe having nanoscale electric contacts and microscale mechanical contacts separately in the tip. Compared with a conventional atomic force microscope (AFM) probe having a similar tip scale, the newly developed probe has demonstrated more than 100 times longer sliding durability while maintaining stable performance.

In the future, we aim to commercialize devices equipped with this wear-resistant probe.

A part of this work was supported by NEDO.

Improvement of tribology characteristics in nano area

Improvement of tribology characteristics in nano area