R&D: Simultaneous Multimethod Scanning Probe Microscopy of Complex Nano-Systems

Journal of Applied Physics has published an article written by Lauren M. Otto, Western Digital Corporation, San Jose, California 95119, USA, and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA, Derek Nowak, William Morrison, Sung Park, Molecular Vista, Inc., San Jose, California 95119, USA, Barry C. Stipe, and Aeron T. Hammack, Western Digital Corporation, San Jose, California 95119, USA.

Abstract: “In the twenty-first century, scanning probe microscopy characterization techniques have seen significant progress and are capable of probing complex structures and devices for a variety of near-surface features and phenomena with nanometer scale resolution. With modest customization, we can deploy these techniques for industrial metrology purposes in a simultaneous and multimethod system capable of shedding light on device function and failure modes, as well as determining the most efficient methods for data collection. To demonstrate this concept with a current, complex industrial device under development, several scanning probe microscopy techniques advantageous to the progress of heat-assisted magnetic recording heads were selected. This work describes simultaneous and multimethod approaches for performing heat-assisted magnetic recording head characterization using atomic force microscopy with scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy simultaneously performed with magnetic force microscopy or photo-induced force microscopy that could be extended to applications of other complex nanoscale devices. We demonstrate that the optical and magnetic fields are overlapping for fabricated heads, which is necessary for performing heat-assisted magnetic recording. We also observed that the multimethod atomic force microscopy methods show strong agreement between the measured optical and magnetic fields and the locale of their associated parts on the head.“