TY - JOUR
T1 - Microfabrication of miniature aperture at the apex of SiO2 tip on silicon cantilever for near-field scanning optical microscopy
AU - Minh, Phan Ngoc
AU - Ono, Takahito
AU - Esashi, Masayoshi
N1 - Funding Information:
A part of this work was done in Tohoku University Venture Business Laboratory. This work was supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture under Grant-in-Aid No. 10305033. The author (P.N.M.) acknowledges Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture for supporting the Monbusho scholarship.
PY - 2000/3/10
Y1 - 2000/3/10
N2 - In this paper we present a novel batch fabrication method of a miniature aperture at the apex of SiO2 tip on a Si cantilever for near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM). The Si cantilever was microfabricated from Si(100) wafer, a SiO2 pyramidal tip was formed near the end of the Si cantilever by thermal oxidation at low temperature. Due to the effect of locally compressive intrinsic stress, the thermal silicon oxide at the apex is thinner than that at the side wall of the pyramidal etch pit. Thus, a tiny aperture can be created at the apex of SiO2 tip by selective etching the SiO2 in buffered-HF (BHF) solution. Using this etching method aperture size ranging from 150 to 500 nm have been successfully fabricated. By optimizing the SiO2 etching time and oxidation condition, sub-100 nm size aperture or aperture array are feasible using the fabrication method. The fabricated probe was combined to an atomic force microscope (AFM) as an AFM/NSOM probe. The AFM in contact mode and corresponding NSOM images of several surfaces were simultaneously obtained. By optimizing the structure of the cantilever we expect to produce a high frequency probe for NSOM, NSOM based data storage and lithography.
AB - In this paper we present a novel batch fabrication method of a miniature aperture at the apex of SiO2 tip on a Si cantilever for near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM). The Si cantilever was microfabricated from Si(100) wafer, a SiO2 pyramidal tip was formed near the end of the Si cantilever by thermal oxidation at low temperature. Due to the effect of locally compressive intrinsic stress, the thermal silicon oxide at the apex is thinner than that at the side wall of the pyramidal etch pit. Thus, a tiny aperture can be created at the apex of SiO2 tip by selective etching the SiO2 in buffered-HF (BHF) solution. Using this etching method aperture size ranging from 150 to 500 nm have been successfully fabricated. By optimizing the SiO2 etching time and oxidation condition, sub-100 nm size aperture or aperture array are feasible using the fabrication method. The fabricated probe was combined to an atomic force microscope (AFM) as an AFM/NSOM probe. The AFM in contact mode and corresponding NSOM images of several surfaces were simultaneously obtained. By optimizing the structure of the cantilever we expect to produce a high frequency probe for NSOM, NSOM based data storage and lithography.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0924-4247(99)00262-9
DO - 10.1016/S0924-4247(99)00262-9
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:0033880770
VL - 80
SP - 163
EP - 169
JO - Sensors and Actuators A: Physical
JF - Sensors and Actuators A: Physical
SN - 0924-4247
IS - 2
T2 - 12th IEEE International Workshop on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS-99)
Y2 - 17 January 1999 through 21 January 1999
ER -