High resolution magnetic imaging: MicroSQUID force microscopy

Abstract

Magnetic imaging at the micrometer scale with high sensitivity is a challenge difficult to be met. Magnetic force microscopy has a very high spatial resolution but is limited in magnetic resolution. Hall probe microscopy is very powerful but sensor fabrication at the one micron scale is difficult and effects due to discreteness of charge appear in the form of significant 1/f noise. SQUID microscopy is very powerful, having high magnetic resolution, but spatial resolution is usually of the order of 10 μm. The difficulties lay mostly in an efficient way to couple flux to the sensor. The only way to improve spatial resolution is to place the probe close to the very edge of the support, thus maximising coupling and spatial resolution. If there has been found a way to bring close the tip, there must be also found a reliable a way to maintain distance during scanning. We want to present recent improvements on scanning microsquid microscopy: Namely the improved fabrication of microSQUID tips using silicon micro machining and the precise positioning of the micrometer diameter microSQUID loop by electron beam lithography. The microSQUID is a microbridge DC SQUID, with two opposite microbridges. The constrictions are patterned by high-resolution e-beam lithography and have a width of 20 nm and a length of about 100 nm. The distance control during scanning is obtained by integrating the microSQUID sensor with a piezoelectric tuning fork acting as a force sensor allowing to control height and even topographic imaging. The detector is placed in a custom built near field microscope and the sample temperature can be varied between 0.1 Kelvin and 10 K. The microscope is used to study magnetic flux structures in unconventional superconductors and will be used to observe thermal domains in superconducting detectors in the voltage state. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.