Project description
Scanning force microscopy spreads its wings with tip-integrated superconductor sensors
Scanning tunnelling microscopy, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics in 1986, revolutionised our ability to obtain images with better than atomic resolution. It generates an image by passing a sharp scanning tip or probe over the surface of a material while recording the quantum mechanical tunnelling current. One important limitation is its requirement for the imaged material to be conductive. Scanning force microscopy (SFM) overcame this limitation by measuring a 'force' between the probe tip and the surface rather than a current. Now, the EU-funded FIBsuperProbes project is pioneering a new era of SFM by integrating on-tip nanometre-scale sensing devices. The technology will open the door to mapping electromagnetic phenomena, enabling an enhanced understanding of the structure-related behaviour of condensed states of matter.
Objective
Our vision is to enable a new era in scanning probe microscopy (SPM), in which nanometer-scale sensing devices – specifically superconducting devices – can be directly patterned on-tip and used to reveal new types of contrast. To realize this vision, we will use focused ion beam (FIB) techniques to produce sensors with unprecedented size, functionality, and sensitivity directly on the tips of custom-designed cantilevers. The key to this undertaking will be the unique capability of FIB to mill, grow, or structurally modify materials – especially superconductors – at the nanometer-scale and on non-planar surfaces. Our FIB-fabricated probes will include on-tip nanometer-scale Josephson junctions (JJs) and superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) for mapping magnetic fields, magnetic susceptibility, electric currents, and dissipation. Crucially, the custom-built cantilevers, on which the sensors will be patterned, will enable nanometer-scale distance control, endowing our probes with exquisite spatial resolution and simultaneous topographic contrast. The resulting imaging techniques will significantly surpass state-of-the-art SPM and help us to unravel poorly understood condensed matter phenomena, which are impossible to address with today’s technology.
Fields of science
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
4051 Basel
Switzerland