LOW-STIFFNESS SILICON CANTILEVERS WITH INTEGRATED HEATERS AND PIEZORESISTIVE SENSORS FOR HIGH-DENSITY AFM THERMOMECHANICAL DATA-STORAGE

Single-crystal silicon cantilevers 1 mu m thick have been demonstrated for use in high-density atomic-force microscopy (AFM) thermomechanica l data storage, Cantilevers with integrated piezoresistive sensors wer e fabricated,vith measured sensitivities Delta R/R up to 7.5 x 10(-7) per Angstrom in close agreement with theoretical predictions, Separate cantilevers with integrated resistive heaters were fabricated using t he same basic process. Electrical and thermal measurements on these he ating devises produced results consistent with ANSYS simulations. Geom etric variants of the cantilever were also tested in order to study th e dependence of the thermal time constant on device parameters. Depend ing on the design, time constants as low as 1 mu s were achieved, A th ermodynamic model was developed based on the cantilevers geometry and material properties, and the model was shown to predict device behavio r accurately, A comprehensive understanding of cantilever functionalit y enabled us to optimize the cantilever for high-speed thermomechanica l recording.