Integration of Magnetoresistive Sensors With Atomic Force Microscopy Cantilevers for Scanning Magnetoresistance Microscopy Applications

This paper reports on the development and the fabrication of a novel atomic force microscopy cantilever with integrated magnetoresistive sensors at its tip for scanning magnetoresistance applications. A 2-D scan over an area of 100 × 100 μm² simultaneously generates topographic and magnetic maps with a spatial resolution better than 1 μm. The magnetic field is detected using two spin valve sensors with a field sensitivity of 61.33 μV/Oe. The device operation is demonstrated with a ferromagnetic test feature of 1 × 20 μm². The results demonstrate that this scanning technique is capable of accurately quantifying the absolute magnitude of magnetic stray fields.