Nanoparticle Manipulation with an AFM Probe

Scanning probe lithography (SPL) includes a variety of techniques which produce nanopatterns based on the interaction between an AFM probe and a substrate, Figure 1 shows an overview of possible techniques of scanning probe lithography. Here we focus on thermal SPL where a heated probe is used to remove or transform material of the substrate. Advantages such as the use under ambient conditions, large throughput even at high resolution, single step processing and the possibility of closed-loop lithography make scanning probe lithography very competitive in the field of nano-fabrication (1). In t-SPL the temperature at the apex is an important quantity in studying the behavior of different materials under fast exposure to heat. Due to heat losses and a limited heat transport from the heater to the apex, the temperature at the tip is not a priori known. To measure the temperature at a scale of