The ability to probe tip-sample interactions by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has recently boosted our understanding of the matter at the atomic scale, enabling the study of properties of surfaces and adsorbates which were previously inaccessible. Nevertheless, this sensitivity to forces presents some drawbacks, as the requirement of a sharp tip apex to prevent the loss of spatial resolution due to the existence of long-range interactions. In this work, we have overcome this long-standing challenge by investigating the controlled extraction of single metallic nanoclusters, selectively grown on graphene. Our results show that the successive extraction of cluster allows to grow nanotips, which minimize the long-range tip-sample interactions and greatly enhance the topographic resolution. We have demonstrated that the created nanotips are very stable, which enables exchanging the sample and using the same nanotip to explore different surfaces without loss of resolution. Since metallic clusters of very different materials and sizes can be grown and selectively extracted by AFM, ours work paves also the way to the specific functionalization of AFM-tips to sense a large variety of interactions.

最近，通过原子力显微镜（AFM）探测尖端样品相互作用的能力提高了我们对原子级物质的了解，从而使人们能够研究以前难以获得的表面和吸附物的特性。然而，这种对力的敏感性仍然存在一些缺陷，因为需要尖锐的尖端以防止由于存在长距离相互作用而导致空间分辨率的损失。在这项工作中，我们通过研究选择性生长在石墨烯上的单一金属纳米簇的受控萃取，克服了这一长期挑战。我们的结果表明，连续提取团簇可以生长纳米尖端，从而最大程度地减少了远程尖端与样品之间的相互作用，并极大地提高了地形分辨率。我们已经证明，创建的nanotips非常稳定，从而可以交换样品并使用相同的纳米尖端探索不同的表面，而不会降低分辨率。由于AFM可以生长和选择性提取具有不同材料和尺寸的金属团簇，因此我们的工作也为AFM尖端的特定功能化铺平了道路，以感应各种各样的相互作用。