AVS 45th International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Division Friday Sessions
       Session NS+AS-FrM

Paper NS+AS-FrM2
Noncontact Measurement of Electrical Dissipation using Ultrasensitive Cantilevers

Friday, November 6, 1998, 8:40 am, Room 321/322/323

Session: Innovative Nanoscale Measurements
Presenter: T.D. Stowe, Stanford University
Authors: T.D. Stowe, Stanford University
D. Rugar, IBM Almaden Research Center
D.J. Thomson, University of Manitoba, Canada
T.W. Kenny, Stanford University
Correspondent: Click to Email
We have used ultralow loss 0.17 µmm thick silicon cantilevers to measure electrical dissipation in insulators and doped silicon samples using a technique similar to the one originally developed by Denk and Pohl.@footnote 1@ Images were taken by recording the mechanical Q of a self-oscillating cantilever as it was scanned 10-100 nm above the sample surface in a perpendicular orientation. All experiments were performed at room temperature in vacuum with cantilevers having 10@super -4@-10@super-3@ N/m spring constants and 10-100 kHz resonant frequencies. Electrical dissipation was measured as function of applied voltage, tip-sample distance, and resistivity. We were able to measure electrical dissipation as small as 10@super -14@ N-s/m and ohmic losses as small as 10@super -18@ Watts. Using tips with 50 nm radii, we were able to simultaneously image permanent charge in the surface oxide and doping levels between 10@super 15@-10@super 19@ /cm@super 3@ in silicon with 200 nm spatial resolution. Possibilities for improving the spatial resolution and doping sensitivity of this technique will be discussed. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@W. Denk and D. W. Pohl, Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 2171 (1991).