Nano-gripper and method of producing same

Abstract

The nano-gripper of the present invention comprises (i) a pair of arms 71 and 71 disposed side by side, each arm 71 having a face at its front end, the front-end faces of the arms 71 and 71 facing each other, (ii) and a protrusion 72 with a tip formed on the front-end face of each arm, the tips of the protrusions 72 and 72 facing each other, the radius of curvature of each tip being 50 nanometers or less. Each protrusion 72 is a triangular-pyramidal silicon crystal with (001), (100), and (111) side faces.

1 . A nano-gripper comprising; 
 a pair of arms disposed side by side, each arm having a base portion, the base portions of the arms being fixed to a base, each arm having a face at its front end, the front-end faces of the arms facing each other; and    a protrusion with a tip formed on the front-end face of each arm, the tips of the protrusions facing each other, the pair of protrusions being formed by etching a silicon crystal disposed between the front-end faces, the silicon crystal having a silicon-oxide film parallel to a (100) face of the silicon crystal and perpendicular to the front-end faces.    
   
   
       2 . A process of producing a nano-gripper with a pair of arms disposed side by side by using a base board including an insulating layer and a silicon layer with (001) facial orientation, the process comprising the steps of: 
 forming a long, narrow mask in the (010) direction in such a position on the top surface of the silicon layer as one of the arms is formed on one side of the mask and the other arm is formed on the other side of the mask;    forming resist patterns on the silicon layer, the resist patterns corresponding in shape and position to the arms to be formed;    etching the silicon layer to form a gripper-in-work with the mask;    removing the resist patterns from the gripper-in-work;    oxidizing the exposed surface of the gripper-in-work with heat to change the surface into a silicon-oxide film;    removing the mask from the gripper-in-work to expose the silicon zone below the mask;    corroding the silicon zone of the gripper-in-process with aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide; and    removing the silicon-oxide film from the gripper-in-process.    
   
   
       3 . A process of producing a nano-gripper, said process comprising the steps of: 
 providing a pair of arms disposed side by side, each arm having a base portion, the base portions of the arms being fixed to a base, each arm having a face at its front end, the front-end faces of the arms facing each other;    providing a protrusion with a tip formed on the front-end face of each arm, the tips of the protrusions facing each other, being formed by etching a silicon crystal disposed between the front-end faces, the silicon crystal having a silicon-oxide film parallel to a (100) face of the silicon crystal and perpendicular to the front-end faces;    wherein each of the paired protrusions in a triangular-pyramidal silicon crystal with (001), (100) and (111) side faces.    
   
   
       4 . A process of producing a nano-gripper; said process comprising the steps of: 
 providing a pair of arms disposed side by side, each arm having a base portion, the base portions of the arms being fixed to a base, each arm having a face at its front end, the front-end faces of the arms facing each other    providing a protrusion with a tip formed on the front-end face of each arm, the tips of the protrusions facing each other, being formed by etching a silicon crystal disposed between the front-end faces, the silicon crystal having a silicon-oxide film parallel to a (100) face of the silicon crystal and perpendicular to the front-end faces; and    providing a pair of actuators, one of the actuators moving one of the arms and the other actuator moving the other arm to narrow and widen the gap between the tips of the protrusions.