Solid Platinum Nanoprobes for Highly Reliable Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 15, pp. 21602–21608

Abstract

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) is a powerful technique to investigate electrical and mechanical properties of materials and devices at the nanoscale. However, its main challenge is the reliability of the probe tips and their interaction with the samples. The most common probe tips used in CAFM studies are made of Si coated with a thin (∼20 nm) film of Pt or Pt-rich alloys (such as Pt/Ir), but this can degrade fast due to high current densities (>10 2 A/cm 2 ) and mechanical frictions. Si tips coated with doped diamond and solid doped diamond tips are more durable, but they are significantly more expensive and their high stiffness often damages the surface of most samples. One growing alternative is to use solid Pt tips, which have an intermediate price and are expected to be more durable than metal-coated silicon tips. However, a thorough characterization of the performance of solid Pt probes for CAFM research has never been reported. In this article, we characterize the performance of solid Pt probes for nanoelectronics research by performing various types of experiments and compare them to Pt/Ir-coated Si probes. Our results indicate that solid Pt probes exhibit a lateral resolution that is very similar to that of Pt/Ir-coated Si probes but with the big advantage of a much longer lifetime. Moreover, the probe-to-probe deviation of the electrical data collected is small. The use of solid Pt probes can help researchers to enhance the reliability of their CAFM experiments.

Authors 8

1. Jonas Weber

   King Abdullah University of Science and Technology · Universitat de Barcelona · Deggendorf Institute of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Applied Physics, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

   Department of Electrical Engineering and Media Technology, Deggendorf Institute of Technology, Dieter-Görlitz-Platz 1, 94469 Deggendorf, Germany

   Materials Science and Engineering Program, Physical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia

2. Yue Jin Yuan

   King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Materials Science and Engineering Program, Physical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia

3. Fabian Kühnel

   Universität der Bundeswehr München · Deggendorf Institute of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39, 85577 Neubiberg, Germany

   Department of Electrical Engineering and Media Technology, Deggendorf Institute of Technology, Dieter-Görlitz-Platz 1, 94469 Deggendorf, Germany

4. Christoph Metzke

   Helmut Schmidt University · Deggendorf Institute of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Electrical Engineering and Media Technology, Deggendorf Institute of Technology, Dieter-Görlitz-Platz 1, 94469 Deggendorf, Germany

   Department of Electrical Engineering, Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Holstenhofweg 85, 22043 Hamburg, Germany

5. Josef Schätz Aachen Chair of Electronic Devices

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Electronic Devices, RWTH Aachen University, Otto-Blumenthal-Straße 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany

   Infineon Technologies AG, Wernerwerkstraße 2, 93049 Regensburg, Germany

6. Werner Frammelsberger

   Deggendorf Institute of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, Deggendorf Institute of Technology, Dieter-Görlitz-Platz 1, 94469 Deggendorf, Germany

7. Günther Benstetter

   Deggendorf Institute of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Electrical Engineering and Media Technology, Deggendorf Institute of Technology, Dieter-Görlitz-Platz 1, 94469 Deggendorf, Germany

8. Mario Lanza corresponding

   King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Materials Science and Engineering Program, Physical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia