Polarization properties of fully metal coated scanning near-field optical microscopy probes

Author

Vaccaro, L. ; Aeschimann, L. ; Nakagawa, W. ; Eckert, R. ; Heinzelmann, H. ; Akiyama, T. ; Staufer, U. ; de Rooij, N.F. ; Herzig, H.P.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Microtechnol., Neuchatel Univ., Switzerland

Volume

2

fYear

2003

fDate

27-28 Oct. 2003

Firstpage

969

Abstract

We have presented a design of silicon cantilever based scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) probes with aluminum coated quartz tips which have been batch fabricated using micromachining technology. The 12 μm high probe tips are made of SiO₂ and fabricated at the end of silicon cantilevers. A hole in the cantilever, located underneath the tip base, permits light insertion and collection through the cantilever. Transmission electron microscopy reveals a 60 nm thick polycrystalline aluminum layer that covers the tip entirely. Still, far-field measurements show the typical polarization properties of conventional SNOM aperture probes. In order to study the mechanism of light transmission through such a tip, theoretical modelling and several experiments were performed.

Keywords

aluminium; elemental semiconductors; light polarisation; light transmission; micromachining; near-field scanning optical microscopy; optical design techniques; optical fabrication; optical films; optical materials; quartz; silicon; silicon compounds; transmission electron microscopy; 12 micron; 60 nm; Al; Si; SiO₂; aluminum coated quartz tip; batch fabrication; far-field measurement; light insertion; light transmission; metal coated scanning near-field optical microscopy probe; micromachining technology; polarization property; polycrystalline aluminum layer; silicon cantilever; theoretical modelling; transmission electron microscopy; Aluminum; Electromagnetic fields; Electromagnetic wave polarization; Image resolution; Optical microscopy; Optical polarization; Optical propagation; Probes; Silicon; Transmission electron microscopy;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics Society, 2003. LEOS 2003. The 16th Annual Meeting of the IEEE

ISSN

1092-8081

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7888-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/LEOS.2003.1253129

Filename

1253129