Electroplated CoPt magnets for actuation of stiff cantilevers.

ABSTRACT

A cantilever has been microfabricated for use in non-contact Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) using a very thick magnetic film to actuate the cantilever motion. The thick magnetic block is deposited electrochemically over a defined area of the cantilever. This cantilever is particularly suitable for driving stiff AFM cantilevers in a liquid environment. Clean mechanical resonances are easily observed. Examples are given of a hard (CoPt) magnet of dimension 29 × 21 × 6 µm(3) electroplated on Silicon cantilevers of stiffness ~22 N/m, giving a static displacement of ~0.2 nm in an applied field of 10(-3) T.