ABSTRACT
An electroformed, three-dimensional stylus Paul trap was designed to confine a single atomic ion for use as a sensor to probe the electric-field noise of proximate surfaces. The trap was microfabricated with the UV-LIGA technique to reduce the distance of the ion from the surface of interest. We detail the fabrication process used to produce a 150 µm tall stylus trap with feature sizes of 40 µm. We confined single, laser-cooled, (25)Mg(+) ions with lifetimes greater than 2 h above the stylus trap in an ultra-high-vacuum environment. After cooling a motional mode of the ion at 4 MHz close to its ground state (