Transmission scanning near-field optical microscopy with uncoated silicon tips

• Published in: Ultramicroscopy Vol. 71; no. 1; pp. 371 - 377
• Main Authors: Danzebrink, Hans U., Castiaux, Annick, Girard, Christian, Bouju, Xavier, Wilkening, Günter
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-03-1998; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Atomic force microscopes; Atomic-force microscopy (AFM); Exact sciences and technology; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Near-field optical microscopy (NFOM); Near-field scanning optical microscopes; Physics; Scanning probe microscopes, components and techniques; Tip-scanning instrumentation design and characterization; Tip-scanning instrumentation design and characterization; Near-field optical microscopy (NFOM); 019; 07.79.−v; 07.79.Fc; 07.79.Lh; 032; Atomic-force microscopy (AFM); Characterization; Design; Atomic force microscopy; Microscope tips; Instrumentation; Experimental study; Scanning near field optical microscopy
• ISSN: 0304-3991; 1879-2723
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3991(97)00101-0

In this paper we report on the implementation of an uncoated silicon (Si) cantilever probe into a transmission scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) architecture. In a first stage, the expected transmission behaviour of a sharp silicon probe is investigated by calculating the complete electric field distribution both inside and outside a silicon tip facing a sample. Experimental applications using near-infrared radiation (
λ=1.06
μm) are then proposed. In particular, compact disc features (Δ
x⩽1
μm) were imaged successfully with our setup (lateral resolution: better than 250
nm). Furthermore, when dealing with finer sample structures (Δ
x⩽100
nm), topography artifacts were clearly evidenced. The resulting highly resolved images of nanostructures are to be attributed to some interference effects occurring between the illuminated probe and the sample.