Micromachined aperture probe tip for multifunctional scanning probe microscopy

Noell, Wilfried; Abraham, Michaël; Mayr, Karsten; Ruf, Andreas; Barenz, Joachim; Hollricher, O.; Marti, Othmar; Güthner, Peter

doi:10.1063/1.118540

Cited by 54 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Also, nanoscale changes in surface morphology are best tracked when the probe has a sharply pointed tip, and a smooth taper assists in the prevention of light leakage from the probe. Several methods have been used to prepare sharply tapered NSOM probes for optical spectroscopy, including chemical etching (18 -21, 44-46), focused ion beam milling (47), heat-pulling (15,16), micromachining (48,49), and hybrid heat-pulling/chemical etching combinations (50). Only two methods, namely heat-pulling (33,34) and chemical etching (27 -29, 32, 37, 41), have been specified in the literature as methods for fabricating apertured probes for near-field laser ablation, and these methods are described in the following paragraphs.…”

Section: Fabrication Of Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy Probesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Near‐Field Laser Ablation for High‐Resolution Nanoscale Surface Analysis

Cleveland¹,

Michel²

2008

Applied Spectroscopy Reviews

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Traditional laser ablation is a well-known method of solid sampling for surface characterization, but the resolution of the technique has been limited by the diameter of the incident laser beam and is typically on the order of 100-200 mm. Unfortunately, this microscale resolution can be too low to characterize isolated surface features that have submicron dimensions. Near-field laser ablation is an emerging analytical tool for nanoscale, high-resolution surface analysis. In this review, applications of near-field laser ablation for solid sample introduction are explored. Also, a descriptive overview of the near-field region is given, and methods of generating a near-field region and several processes for tip manufacture are described.

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Section: Fabrication Of Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy Probesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Near‐Field Laser Ablation for High‐Resolution Nanoscale Surface Analysis

Cleveland¹,

Michel²

2008

Applied Spectroscopy Reviews

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“…Most popular up to now is the adiabatic pulling of optical fibers during heating with a CO 2 laser. 8,9 Recently, microfabricated tips have been presented in the literature, 10,11 however, such tips are not yet commercially available.…”

Section: ͓S0003-6951͑99͒03228-3͔mentioning

confidence: 99%

High-quality near-field optical probes by tube etching

Stöckle

Fokas

Deckert

et al. 1999

Applied Physics Letters

274

187

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A method called tube etching for the fabrication of near-field optical probes is presented. Tip formation occurs inside a cylindrical cavity formed by the polymer coating of an optical fiber which is not stripped away prior to etching in hydrofluoric acid. The influence of temperature, etchant concentration, and fiber type on the tip quality is studied. A tip formation mechanism for the given geometry is proposed. The procedure overcomes drawbacks of the conventional etching techniques while still producing large cone angles: (i) tips with reproducible shapes are formed in a high yield, (ii) the surface roughness on the taper is drastically reduced, and (iii) the tip quality is insensitive to vibrations and temperature fluctuations during the etching process. After aluminum coating, optical probes with well-defined apertures are obtained. Due to the smooth glass surface the aluminum coating is virtually free of pinholes.

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“…The optical aperture can be defined by angle evaporation of the metal on the fiber or by etching away the tip apex, but it is still challenging to fabricate well-controlled, reproducible apertures, mainly owing to the difficulty in obtaining an opaque metallic layer of sufficient quality. Various aperture fabrication techniques based on microtechnology have been proposed to overcome these problems and improve the fabrication of probes with well-determined shape and size [15][16][17][18][19].…”

Section: Snom Probesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micromachined Photoplastic Probes for Scanning Probe Microscopy

et al. 2001

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Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is a well-established technique for surface analysis, but batch-fabricated, low-cost probes still remain a challenging issue. The design and fabrication of entirely photoplastic probes for scanning force microscopy (SFM) have been developed and used for imaging DNA molecules. Using a polymer for the cantilever facilitates the realization of mechanical properties that are difficult to achieve with classical silicon technology. Single lever and cassettes of multiple single-lever probes are presented. The probes are made of an epoxy-based photoresist, which can be structured by standard photolithography and molding techniques. The fabrication process is a simple batch process in which the integrated tips and the levers are defined in one photolithography step. Imaging soft, condensed matter with photoplastic levers, which uses laser beam deflection sensing, exhibits a resolution that compares well with that of commercially available silicon cantilevers. A similar fabrication technique was also developed to fabricate photoplastic tips for scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) that are to be attached to optical fibers. This technique allows optical apertures to be integrated at the end of the well-defined tip directly by probe fabrication, without the need for any post-processing for the aperture formation. Simple fabrication, as well as topographical and optical imaging with such probes, demonstrate the potential of photoplastic-based probes for AFM and SNOM applications.

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Micromachined aperture probe tip for multifunctional scanning probe microscopy

Cited by 54 publications

References 11 publications

A Review of Near‐Field Laser Ablation for High‐Resolution Nanoscale Surface Analysis

A Review of Near‐Field Laser Ablation for High‐Resolution Nanoscale Surface Analysis

High-quality near-field optical probes by tube etching

Micromachined Photoplastic Probes for Scanning Probe Microscopy

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