US Patent 7281419 - Plural scanning probe tips formed of different materials and radius

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7281419.html

The use of scanning probe technology originated in the 1980's for microscopy on the nanoscale and has gradually been applied to other nanoscale operations such as lithography, mask repair, and data storage. This patent from the University of Illinois teaches the use of scanning probe tips formed of differing materials and sizes on a common probe array to enable a wider range of operations such as multiple resolution processing. Claim 1 reads:

1. A probe array, comprising: a handle, a first probe, comprising a first shank, connected to the handle, and a first tip having a radius of curvature of at least 300 nm, a second probe, comprising a second shank, connected to the handle, and a second tip having a radius of curvature less than 300 nm; where the first tip and the second tip are made of different materials, and the first tip comprises an elastomer.

US Patent 7241987 - Nanoparticle-coated near-field probe

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7241987.html

Near-field microscopes have been developed over the past several decades to overcome the wavelength limited resolution of conventional optical microscopes. Within the past few years surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), a technique used to enhance detection by several orders of magnitude via rough surfaces, has been used in combination with near-field probes, however inconsistency existed because of differences in the ways the surface were formed to promote SERS. This patent teaches the formation of metal nanoparticles to achieve the SERS effect in a near field probe in a more consistent manner.

1. A probe for a near-field microscope comprising: a probe body is inserted into an evanescent field generated in a sample surface so that scattered light is detected by scattering the evanescent field using a probe tip of the probe body, one part or all of the probe body which interacts with the evanescent field being coated with metal particles which do not mutually adhere, each of the metal particles having a particle diameter of 10 nm or larger and a radius of curvature of 50 nm or smaller.

US Patent 7233517 - Coated atomic force probe for data storage

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7233517.html

A variety of companies are working on implementing high density memories approaching Terabit/in^2 using scanning probe technologies that were originally designed as microscopes for the atomic and molecular scale in the 1980's. This patent is from a company called Nanochip and provides some fairly broad claims drawn to the use of a coated atomic tip for such data storage. For example claim 2 reads:

2. An atomic probe for high density data storage reading, writing, erasing, or rewriting, comprising: a core coupled with a coating; and wherein the coating contacts a media device.

Unfortunately, the Examiner may have overlooked references such as

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6198300.html

which teaches metal coated AFMs.

US Patent 7214303 - Branched nanostructure for atomic force microscopy

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7214303.html

The atomic force microscope (AFM) and related proximity probes have been used for nanoscale analysis since the 1980's. More recently nanotubes have been formed on the tips of AFMs to provide higher resolution and allow for inspection of high aspect ratio cavities in substrates. This patent from Boston College teaches using a branched (Y-junction) nanotube as a nanocantilever structure for an AFM. Claim 1 reads:

1. A cantilever probe comprising: a first electrode and a second electrode engaged to a substrate; a branched cantilever comprising a nanostruture; a first arm of the cantilever engaging the first electrode and a second arm of the cantilever engaging the second electrode; and an electrical circuit coupled to the cantilever wherein the electrical circuit measures a change in piezoresistance of the cantilever resulting from an atomic force applied to the cantilever.

US Patent 7183122 - Scanning probe sub-surface circuit modification

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7183122.pdf

Scanning tunneling microscopes and atomic force microscopes were fundamental innovations developed in the 1980's to detect on the nanoscale. More recently these devices (collectively referred to as scanning probe microscopes) have been applied to nanofabrication processes such as etching and coating as well as detection. This patent from Intel has basic claims to subsurface circuit processing using these tools. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method comprising: machining a hole on an integrated circuit with a scanning probe system; and performing a circuit edit through the hole formed by said system.

US Patent 7170842 - Ferrofluid Memory Storage

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7170842.pdf

Scanning probe microscopy continues to receive a great deal of interest in high density memory applications many of which use phase change materials to store data. This patent from Hewlett-Packard uses magnetic particles imbedded in a fluid as a storage media for the scanning probes. Claim 1 reads:

1. A data storage device, comprising: a storage medium; nanometer-scaled data storage areas in the storage medium; an energy-emitting tip positioned in close proximity to the storage medium; a fluid medium positioned between the energy-emitting tip and the storage medium wherein the fluid medium comprises a ferrofluid; and particles contained in the fluid medium.

US Patent 7170055 - Nanotube tip for magnetic force microscopy

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7170055.pdf

Magnetic force microscopy is an offshoot of atomic force microscopy designed to detect magnetic properties on the sub-micron scale and is useful for characterizing high density magnetic memory recording media. This patent allows for characterizations of high aspect ratio pits in the magnetic media by attaching metal via a nanotube to the microscope tip. Claim 1 reads:

1. A nanotube-based tip arrangement comprising: a tip base; at least one nanotube having a fixed end coupled to the tip base and having a free end extending away from the tip base; a sticking layer of material coated onto the free end of the at least one nanotube; and a layer of metal material coated onto the sticking layer.

US Patent 7164646 - Scanning Probe Memory Cell With >2 Storage States

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7164646.pdf

Conventional memory states are digitally stored in magnetic or optical media in terms of binary values (i.e. 0 or 1.) Scanning probe/Atomic force microscopy have added phase change material to the types of media on which digital data can be written, allowing for bit sizes on the nanoscale and greater memory densities. However, these scanning probe memory devices still typically use binary storage. This patent from Hewlett Packard teaches using the scanning probe tip to form multilevel (>2) data storage to further increase memory densities. Claim 1 reads:

1. A storage device comprising: a storage medium having plural storage cells; and a probe to scan across a surface of the storage medium to program the storage cells, wherein the probe is adapted to selectively program each storage cell to one of more than two storage states, the probe to selectively program each storage cell to have a dent having one of plural depths that represent at least two of the storage states, and wherein the probe is operable to contact a surface of the storage medium to read a storage state of at least one storage cell during a read operation.