= Solution
A conventional tapping tip tapers toward its apex, so its shank contacts an overhanging feature before its apex can probe underneath it. <Critical-dimension atomic force microscopy> instead uses a calibrated flared or laterally extended tip, with a relatively narrow neck and side-sensitive control. The lateral extension can contact a reentrant sidewall while the neck clears the upper edge. The measured profile still includes the tip's finite shape and must be interpreted with a tip calibration; changing the tip does not automatically eliminate all <convolution> errors.<Effects of Lateral Tip Control in CD-AFM Width Metrology by Ronald G. Dixson and others>[Flared tips and bidirectional sidewall sensing]{ref}
Back to article page
