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Focusing of Laser Radiation in the Near‐field of a Tip (FOLANT) for Applications in Nanostructuring
Author(s) -
Dickmann Klaus,
Jersch Johann,
Demming Frank
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9918(199706)25:7/8<500::aid-sia258>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - laser , materials science , hillock , raman spectroscopy , optics , optoelectronics , radiation , nanometre , substrate (aquarium) , microscopy , dielectric , nanotechnology , oceanography , physics , composite material , geology
Abstract Current research work has shown that ‘focusing’ of laser radiation down to a few nanometres can be achieved by using near‐field technology, e.g. scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) or atomic force microscopy (AFM), in combination with a laser. Lateral external illumination of a probe tip with laser radiation can cause a tremendous intensity enhancement of up to 5×10 5 in the near‐field underneath the probe tip. This effect can be explained by different electrostatic as well as electrodynamic effects known from surface‐enhanced raman spectroscopy (SERS). This enhancement effect was utilized to concentrate laser radiation with high intensity between a tip and a substrate. This FOLANT (focusing of laser radiation in the near‐field of a tip) technique can be applied for material processing on a nanometre scale. Using an STM/laser combination, hillocks, pits and grooves with lateral dimensions down to 10 nm have been obtained on gold substrates. The AFM/laser combination enabled nanostructures down to 20 nm to be established on dielectric materials such as polycarbonate.© 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.