THERMAL SIMULATION ANALYSIS OF SCANNING NEAR-FIELD OPTICAL MICROSCOPEPOINT HEATING MECHANISMS

We performed thermal simulation of nanostructure modifications through point heating of phase-change materials using a scanning near-held op tical microscope (SNOM). As the recording process, two major heating m echanisms were considered: direct heating by near-field light and ther mal conduction from the SNOM tip heated by the incident light. The tem perature increases in the sample due to these heating mechanisms were calculated for GeSbTe phase-change thin films. It was found that therm al conduction from the tip was the dominant process for heating and it s temperature increase was more than three times larger than that of d irect heating by near-field light.