Tungsten Probe Manufacturing

Publishing Venue

IBM

Related People

Pugacz-Muraszkiewicz, I: AUTHOR

Abstract

It has been known that the partial submersion of tungsten wires in a vertical position in an hydroxide electrolyte, will cause the wires to acquire smooth rounded points of a controlled contour entirely by an electrochemical reaction. The process is independent of the depths to which the wires penetrate because the points form at the surface level.

Tungsten Probe Manufacturing

It has been known that the partial submersion of tungsten wires in a vertical position in an hydroxide electrolyte, will cause the wires to acquire smooth rounded points of a controlled contour entirely by an electrochemical reaction. The process is independent of the depths to which the wires penetrate because the points form at the surface level.

The present process produces extremely fine narrow tips on electroformed tungsten wires by submersing the tip of the wire in a hydroxide solution, such as lithium hydroxide, and applying to the immersed tungsten wire an oscillatory vertical motion. The taper of the probe is determined by the frequency of the oscillations and the amplitude of the oscillation.

Preferably, it has been found that the frequency of the oscillation should be approximately 1 or 2 oscillations per second to which the amplitude of the oscillations should be limited, such that the tip of the wire is never removed from the solution.

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