US Patent 7501618 - Bending nanocantilever with particle beam

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7501618.html

It is well known to form sharp nanoscopic tips for micromechanical cantilevers using a variety of etching mechanisms or catalytic growth processes. Focused Ion Beam (FIB) manipulation is one known method for shaping the tip material and this patent from Korea Research Institute of Standards teaches bending the tip based on the FIB. Claim 1 reads:

1. A deformation method of nanometer-scale material using particle beam, which is characterized in that the nanometer-scale material is bent toward a direction of the particle beam by irradiating the particle beam on the nanometer-scale material.