Agt. Ruiter et al., MICROFABRICATION OF NEAR-FIELD OPTICAL PROBES, Journal of vacuum science & technology. B, Microelectronics and nanometer structures processing, measurement and phenomena, 14(2), 1996, pp. 597-601
Near-field optical microscopy generally uses a tapered optical fiber,
which is metal coated, to form a sub-wavelength sized light source. He
re, a technique for the fabrication of a new type of probe is describe
d. The new design is based on atomic force microscope probes and consi
sts of a silicon nitride cantilever with a solid transparent conical t
ip. The probes are made using micromechanical techniques, which allow
batch fabrication of the probes. A near-field scanning optical microsc
ope system was built to test the probes. This system features force de
tection by a beam deflection technique and subsequent force feedback t
ogether with a conventional optical microscope. A major advantage of t
he apparatus is the ease at which images are obtained. Results on a te
st sample show that an optical resolution of 300 nm can be obtained to
gether with a simultaneous height image. (C) 1996 American Vacuum Soci
ety.