1st Edition

Fabrication of Silicon Microprobes for Optical Near-Field Applications

    192 Pages 130 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    The development of near-field optics marked a major advance in microscopy and our ability to develop nanoscale technologies. However, the tapered optical fiber widely in use as the optical near-field probe has serious limitations in its fabrication, its optical transmission efficiency, and its use in arrays.

    Fabrication of Silicon Microprobes for Optical Near-Field Applications reports on several technological approaches to using silicon micromachining techniques for fabricating microprobes without the drawbacks of conventional optical fiber probes. The authors have developed a simple, effective method for batch-process production of silicon cantilevered probes with apertures as small as 20 nanometers. They have investigated in detail the probes' optical performance characteristics and show how the silicon probes overcome the limitations of the optical fiber probes in terms of production throughput, optical throughput, reproducibility, simplicity of instrumentation, and mechanical performance.

    Preface
    INTRODUCTION
    Introduction
    Structure of the Book
    References
    INTRODUCTION OF NEAR-FIELD OPTICS
    Far-Field Light and Diffraction Effect
    Concept of Near-Field Optics and Optical Near-Field Microscopy
    Instrumentation of Optical Near-Field Imaging
    Techniques for Control of the Tip-Sample Distance
    Tapered Optical Fiber Based Optical Near-Field Probes
    Disadvantages of Optical Fiber Based Probes and Solutions with Silicon Micromachined Probes
    References
    INTRODUCTION OF SILICON MICROMACHINING TECHNOLOGY
    Lithography
    Thermal Oxidation of Silicon
    Metallization
    Silicon Etching
    Silicon Oxide Etching
    Anodic Bonding and Packaging
    References
    FABRICATION OF SILICON MICROPROBES FOR OPTICAL NEAR-FIELD APPLICATIONS
    Overview of Micromachined Optical Near-Field Probes
    Design of the Probes
    Principle of the Fabrication Process
    Detail of the Fabrication Process
    Fabrication Results and Discussion
    References
    EVALUATION OF THE MICROFABRICATED OPTICAL NEAR-FIELD PROBES
    Optical Throughput Measurement
    Measurement of Spatial Distribution of the Near-Field Light at the Fabricated Aperture
    Polarization Behaviors of the Fabricated Aperture
    Static and Dynamic Properties of the Fabricated Cantilevers
    Discussion
    References
    NOVEL PROBES FOR LOCALLY ENHANCING OF NEAR-FIELD LIGHT AND OTHER APPLICATIONS
    Fabrication of the Coaxial Apertured Probe
    Fabrication of Apertured Probe with a Single Carbon Nano Tube
    Fabrication of the Apertured Probe with an Embedded Ag Particle
    Fabrication and Characterization of a Hybrid Structure of Optical Fiber and Apertured Cantilever for Optical Near-Field Applications
    Fabrication and Characterization of Metallic Contacts in Nanoscale Size for Thermal Profiler and Thermal Recording Probe Array
    Initial Results of the Fabrication of Electron Field Emission Devices
    Discussion
    References
    USING FINITE DIFFERENCE TIME DOMAIN METHOD
    Introduction
    FDTD modeling for optical near-field simulation
    Results of the FDTD simulation
    References
    SUB-WAVELENGTH OPTICAL IMAGING WITH THE FABRICATED PROBES
    Introduction
    Measurement Setups
    Measurement Results
    Discussion
    References
    OPTICAL NEAR-FIELD LITHOGRAPHY
    Introduction
    Fabrication of Nanoscale Aperture and Slits
    Optical Near-Field Patterns Transfer
    Grid Pattern Transfer Using Polarized Light
    Conclusion
    References
    OPTICAL NEAR-FIELD RECORDING WITH THE FABRICATED APERTURE ARRAY
    Introduction
    Concept of the VCSEL/NSOM and Fabrication Process
    Results of Fabrication and First Result of Recording
    Discussion
    References
    FUTURE ASPECT AND CONCLUSIONS
    Future Aspect
    Conclusion of the Work
    Subject Index

    Biography

    Phan Ngoc Minh, Ono Takahito, Esashi Masayoshi

    "All in all, I found this book interesting, well organized, and easy to understand. Written crisply and to the point, it satisfyingly balances mathematical method with experimental results."

    – Pouria Valley, University of Arizona, in IEEE Circuits & Devices Magazine, July/August 2006, Vol. 22, No. 4