Protective Fullerene (C60) Packaging System for Microelectromechanical Systems Applications

Abstract

The invention involves a method for locating the probe of a scanning tunneling micrograph a predetermined distance from its conducting surface, and specifically the deposition of a monolayer of fullerene C 60 onto the conducting plate. The Fullerene C 60 molecule is approximately spherical and a monolayer of fullerene has a thickness of one nanometer. By providing a monolayer of fullerene on the conducting surface and locating the probe on the surface of the monolayer, a distance of one nanometer can be established between the probe tip and the conducting surface.