Tetracyanoplatinate Scanning Probe Microscope Tips

My Idea serial ID: 00326

My idea is for a new type of scanning probe microscope (SPM) which could be used for 'picking up' molecules by expressing patterns of electrical charge on its tip that were complementary to the patterns of charge on the surfaces of molecules. The probe tips would be made from tetracyanoplatinate (TCP) salt crystals. These crystals consist of straight adjacent stacks of TCP units, each of which is a platinum atom surrounded at the corners of a square by four carbons each triple bonded to a nitrogen, together with positive metal ions. TCP salt crystals are anisotropic and patterns of electrical charge set at one end would be expressed identically at the other. Here is a suggested set of instructions on how to fabricate and wire a TCP probe microscope:

1. Place a thin metallic lid on a TCP group/positive ion aqueous solution.
2. Apply a positive electrode to a point on the lid with the negative electrode immersed in the solution thus causing a roughly shaped TCP needle to grow under that point.
3. Carefully photoetch a small patch of the lid to expose some of the TCP stacks.
4. Using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) apply pulsed charges to individual TCP stacks at the (inverted) base of the needle until the growing end of the needle was in contact with the negative electrode.
5. Carefully break off the negative electrode and drain the solution. If the electrode was (atomically!) flat and the break was clean this would leave a flat TCP probe tip of the correct dimensions.
6. Invert the TCP probe and immerse the base in a solution of conductive polymers in a container the base of which has incorporated within it a microchip with several of its circuits terminating on the surface exposed to the solution.
7. Using an STM apply a charge to the end of a TCP stack and simultaneously oppositely charge one circuit terminal so that a single polymer molecule formed a bridge between the two. Repeat this action until all of the desired stacks had been connected to circuits.
8. Add calcium carbonate to the solution and by cooling or the addition of a catalyst proceed with calcification until the polymer wires had been completely embedded.

For greater detail please refer to the attached file.

Mark Hanlon