Monolithic gallium arsenide cantilever for scanning near-field microscopy

In this paper we report on the fabrication of monolithic cantilevers for scanning probe microscopy (SPM) based on gallium arsenide material. For this purpose the etching properties of (1 0 0) oriented GaAs were studied to develop cantilevers with integrated tip of proper shape and aspect ratio. Although the mechanical properties of GaAs are similar to those of silicon – the basic material for microstructure technology – there are optical and electrical features unique to GaAs and related III/V semiconductors. The aim is to develop novel active and passive SPM probes exploiting these properties. Two probes are presented: at first a Schottky diode is integrated into a cantilever tip which can be used as an optical and thermal sensor for scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) and scanning thermal microscopy (SThM). Furthermore, a coplanar wave guide probe for high-frequency scanning electron force microscopy (HFSEFM) was fabricated based on semi-insulating GaAs exploiting its advantageous dielectric properties.