SuperSharpSilicon™ - High Quality-Factor - 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 excellent mechanical Q-factor under UHV conditions for high sensitivity 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-QMFMR AFM probe combines the high resolution performance of the SuperSharpSilicon™ magnetic force microscopy probe with the high mechanical quality factor under ultra high vacuum conditions of the Q30K-Plus-Series. An extremely small radius of the coated tip, a high aspect ratio at the last few hundred nanometers of the tip and a Q-factor of more than 35,000 facilitates outstanding lateral resolution in the magnetic force image and high operation stability under UHV conditions.

Due to the low magnetic moment of the tip the sensitivity to magnetic forces is decreased if compared to standard MFM probe 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.