SuperSharpSilicon™ Magnetic Force Microscopy - Reflex Coating

The SPM probe offers unique features: hard magnetic coating on the tip side (coercivity of app. 125 Oe, remanence magnetization of app. 80 emu/cm3) effective magnetic moment 0.25x of standard probes metallic electrical conductivity guaranteed tip radius of curvature < 15 nm magnetic resolution better than 25 nm Al coating on detector side of cantilever enhancing the reflectivity of the laser beam by a factor of about 2.5 alignment grooves on backside of silicon holder chip precise alignment of the cantilever position (within +/- 2 µm) when used with the Alignment Chip compatible with PointProbe® Plus XY-Alignment Series

The NANOSENSORS™ SSS-MFMR AFM probe is optimized for high resolution magnetic force imaging. The SuperSharpSilicon™ tip basis combined with a very thin hard magnetic coating result in an extremely small radius of the coated tip and a high aspect ratio at the last few hundred nanometers of the tip - the essential demands for high lateral resolution down to 20 nm in ambient conditions.

Due to the low magnetic moment of the tip the sensitivity to magnetic forces is significantly decreased if compared to standard MFM probes but the disturbance of soft magnetic samples is also reduced.

The hard magnetic coating on the tip is characterized by a coercivity of app. 125 Oe and a remanence magnetization of app. 80 emu/cm3 (these values were determined on a flat surface).

As both coatings are almost stress-free the bending of the cantilever due to stress is less than 3.5% of the cantilever length. For enhanced signal strength the magnetization of the tip by means of a strong permanent magnet prior to the measurement is recommended.