0000000000215219
AUTHOR
Arnaud Cathelat
Surface plasmon near-field imaging of very thin microstructured polymer layers.
We report on the near-field imaging of microstructured polymer layers deposited on an homogeneous metal thin film on which a surface plasmon mode is excited. The microstructures in the polymer layers are designed by electron beam lithography, and the near-field imaging is performed with a photon scanning tunneling microscope (PSTM). We show that, despite their very small height, the microstructures can be conveniently imaged with a PSTM thanks to the field enhancement at the surface of the metal thin film supporting the surface plasmon. The influence of the illumination conditions on the contrast of the PSTM images is discussed. In particular, we show that both the field enhancement and the…
Changes in surface stress, morphology and chemical composition of silica and silicon nitride surfaces during the etching by gaseous HF acid
Abstract HF acid attack of SiO2 and Si3N4 substrates is analyzed to improve the sensitivity of a sensor based on microcantilever. Ex situ analysis of the etching using XPS, SIMS and AFM show significant changes in the anisotropy and the rate of the etching of the oxides on SiO2 and Si3N4 surface. Those differences influence the kinetic evolution of the plastic bending deflection of the cantilever coated with SiO2 and Si3N4 layer, respectively. The linear dependence between the HF concentration and the Si3N4 cantilever bending corresponds to a deep attack of the layer whereas the non-linear behavior observed for SiO2 layer can be explained by a combination of deep and lateral etching. The ca…