OPTICAL NEAR-FIELD MICROSCOPY - APPLICATI ON TO SEMICONDUCTORS

Near field optical microscopy has become largely investigated even if the implementation, the specifications, the interpretation of images a re not satisfactorily mastered. This paper describes the particular si tuation of semiconductors which behaves differently because of their h igh refractive index. Transparent semiconductor AFM tips can be used a s optical transducers of very high performances. First investigations on comparative transmission properties are presented corresponding to silicon nitride tips and also doped silicon tips on a InP surface. It is shown that the exceptionnally small relative aperture on the Si tip s induces a new behaviour which we interpret as the first evidence of a photonic resonnant tunneling effect.