Market launch for novel AFM Probe Manufacturing Process

原子力显微镜(AFM)用于对分辨率低于1纳米的材料的表面形貌进行成像。它们被用于半导体、纳米材料的开发，并越来越多地用于生物科学中对生物分子进行成像。他们使用安装在微调振动悬臂末端的尖端带有尖端的探头来“感觉”材料表面。原子力显微镜探头类似于用于黑胶唱片的指示笔，然而，尖端要小得多，而且制造得更精确。尖端半径通常小于10 nm半径；只有少数几个原子大小。目前使用的制造方法依赖于昂贵的材料和资本设备，而探头的生产速度非常慢，成本也很高。NuNano已经开发出一种制造这些精密产品的方法，可以降低高达90%的制造成本，并提高质量和一致性。该项目将扩大这一流程以进行批量生产，并在未来4年内将我们的探头销量增加到全球每月约25,000个探头。

Atomic Force microscopes (AFMs) are used to image the surface topography of materials with a resolution of less than a nanometer. They are used in the development of semiconductors, nanomaterials and, increasingly, in biological science to image biomolecules. They use a probe with a sharp tip mounted at the end of finely tuned vibrating cantilever to ‘feel’ the material surface. AFM probes are analogous to a stylus as used with vinyl records, however, the tip is much smaller and precisely made. The tip radius is typically less than 10nm radius; only a few atoms in size. The manufacturing methods currently used rely on expensive materials and capital equipment and probes are very slow and costly to produce. NuNano has developed a way of manufacturing these precision products which can reduce the manufacturing costs by as much as 90% and with improved quality and consistency. This project is to scale this process up for volume manufacture and to increase our sales of probes to around 25,000 probes per month worldwide over the next 4 years.