Magnetic Force Microscope Probes With High Resolution by Soft Magnetic Vortex

Author

Liu, Xiaoxi ; Isomura, Shinsaku ; Morisako, Akimitsu

Author_Institution

Dept. of Inf. Eng., Shinshu Univ., Nagano, Japan

Volume

48

Issue

11

fYear

2012

Firstpage

3673

Lastpage

3676

Abstract

Magnetic force microscope (MFM) probes are fabricated by coating magnetically soft FeCo films in a facing targets sputtering (FTS) system. Compared with DC magnetron sputtering, probes coated by FTS show smaller tip radius. Lateral resolution about 12 nm has been achieved by the probes. Simulation results show that a magnetic vortex is formed at the probe apex. The resulting effective magnetic moment of the probes will be minimized by the formation of vortex. We show that these probes have higher lateral resolution than the standard, commercially available MFM probes.

Keywords

cobalt alloys; iron alloys; magnetic force microscopy; magnetic moments; magnetic thin films; metallic thin films; soft magnetic materials; sputtered coatings; FTS; FeCo; MFM probes; coating; facing target sputtering system; lateral resolution; magnetic force microscopy probes; magnetic moment; probe apex; soft films; soft magnetic vortex; Magnetic force microscopy; Magnetic resonance imaging; Microscopy; Probes; Saturation magnetization; Soft magnetic materials; Sputtering; Facing targets sputtering; FeCo; magnetic force microscopy;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2012.2204962

Filename

6332834