removed from the hotplate using the snbi58 solder paste nearly all chips stayed in their true position the digital hotplate allows accurate temperature control and a desired temperature profile may also easily be adjusted via a computer although wafers have to be soldered one by one a soldering cycle takes about 5 minutes and therefore a reasonable amount of wafers may be soldered in relatively short time a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises the use of a metallisation scheme of ti w ni au snbi58 solder past and soldering on a digital hotplate fig3 a to 3 c show the mounting procedure schematically an optical microscope was used for positioning control during the different steps the probe is covered at least at its backside i e opposite the tipside of the cantilever with 20 nm ti w 45 nm ni and 100 nm au two droplets of solder paste 8 i e snbi58 were deposited on the contact area 7 of the probe using the end of a thin metal wire that was dipped into the paste before fig3 a the stickiness of the paste allows the deposition of a small portion of paste each time the wire touches the contact area it is very advantageous to deposit two small droplets of paste on the contact area instead of only one big droplet if only one droplet was used the holder chip is likely to rotate and move way from it as deposited position if at least two droplets are deposited near the edge of the contact area however the chip is held in its original position during soldering it is.