 Significant progress in the choice of resist material was made in 2010 at IBM Research in Zurich, leading to high resolution and precise 3D-relief patterning with the use of the self-amplified depolymerization polymer polyphthalaldehyde (PPA) and molecular glasses as resist, where the polymer decomposes into volatile monomers upon heating with the tip without the application of mechanical force and without pile-up or residues of the resist.The thermal cantilevers are fabricated from silicon wafers using bulk – and surface micro-machining processes.Probes have a radius of curvatures below 5 nm, enabling sub-10 nm resolution in the resist.