AVS 47th International Symposium
    Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures Tuesday Sessions
       Session MI+NS+NANO 6-TuM

Invited Paper MI+NS+NANO 6-TuM5
Quantitative Magnetic Force Microscopy and Exchange Force Microscopy: New Tools for Magnetic Imaging

Tuesday, October 3, 2000, 9:40 am, Room 206

Session: Magnetic Imaging I
Presenter: H.J. Hug, University of Basel, Switzerland
Authors: H.J. Hug, University of Basel, Switzerland
P.J.A. van Schendel, University of Basel, Switzerland
S. Martin, University of Basel, Switzerland
R. Hoffmann, University of Basel, Switzerland
P. Kappenberger, University of Basel, Switzerland
M.A. Lantz, University of Basel, Switzerland
H.-J. Guentherodt, University of Basel, Switzerland
Correspondent: Click to Email
Magnetic Force Microscopy has become a a well established technique for studying the topography and the micro-magnetic structure of various samples with a high lateral resolution. Among these are ferromagnetic and superconducting materials, and magnetic recording read/write-heads. Recently there has been growing interest in the quantitative analysis of measurement data obtained using a magnetic force microscope (MFM).@footnote 1@ Recent tip calibration procedures allow quantitative stray field measurements, the determination of the stray field distribution of the tip, and its stray field sensitivity. The best lateral resolution currently is around 30nm. However, the combination of ultra-sharp SFM-tips coated with ultra-thin magnetic layers and improved instrumental sensitivity may allow a lateral resolution around 10nm. A higher lateral resolution may be reached by the measurement of exchange forces. The principles of this new technique and first experiments will be discussed.@FootnoteText@@footnote 1@P.J.A. van Schendel et al., J. Appl. Phys. 88, 435-445 (2000)