Recent advances in AFM tip-based nanomechanical machining

As one of the tip-based nanomanufacturing (TBN) approaches, the atomic force microscope tip-based nanomechanical technique has already been used to successfully fabricate nanodots, nanolines and two-dimensional or three-dimensional nanostructures on flat or even curved surfaces. This technique exhibits the unique properties of low-cost with simple, highly accurate and flexible control. First, the advances in these areas are reviewed along with the applications of these structures. Second, chemical and thermal energies are also integrated with the mechanical effects, resulting in some new nanomanufacturing methods to extend the scope of the existing TBN methods. The state of the art in this area is then presented. Multi-energy resources will become a new growth area for this method. Finally, based on the normal force control strategy of this technique, a summary of the development of several novel micro/nanomachining systems is given. It is hoped that this review will serve to aid in the advance of the existing design and manufacture of micro/nanomechanical machine systems with nanometer accuracy.