US Patent 7735147 - Tapered CNT scanning probe tip

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7735147.html

A variety of designs have been developed in the past several years for carbon nanotube tipped atomic force microscopes which can provide higher resolution scanning in the nanoscale. This patent teaches a variation in which a conical carbon shape is grown to form a more stable tip. Claim 1 reads:

1. A mechanically stable carbon nanotube, having a scanning probe tip comprising an oriented carbon nanotube having a carbon-island-defined base with a gradually decreasing diameter, with a sharp point at the probe tip.