Magnetic Force Microscopy Imaging of Current Paths
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Magnetic Force Microscopy Imaging of Current Paths R. Yongsunthon1, A. Stanishevsky2, P. J. Rous3, and E. D. Williams1 Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 2 MRSEC, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 3 Department of Physics, University of Maryland, Baltimore Country, MD 20742
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ABSTRACT We demonstrate Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) imaging, at room temperature in air, of a 0.25mA DC current path in a 140nm-wide gold nanowire. The nanowire was created by focused ion beam milling of a 12µm wide Cr/Au line of 20nm/110nm Cr/Au thickness. Iterative fitting of the MFM data to an idealized model of the structure yielded a nanowire resistivity a factor of 3.5 higher than that of a control Cr/Au region which was unaffected by the ion beam processing. MFM imaging of an ion-implant patterned line shows current deflection around the implant region. INTRODUCTION We have previously demonstrated the ability of Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) to perform relative quantification [1,2] and observe current behaviors in conducting lines [3]. Additionally, a fully rigorous analysis involving both image deconvolution and inversion has been achieved and will be presented in future work [4,5]. Although our analysis has previously been limited to micron-scale current line widths, extension of these techniques to nanoscale devices and structures with spatial variations in resistivity is highly desirable. The key issues in making this extension are the conflicting demands of the sensitivity and spatial resolution needed to resolve nanoscale current paths. Nanoscale resolution of MFM has been demonstrated for magnetic films [6-9]. However, the fields around nanoscale conducting lines containing nondestructive DC current densities are weak (typically
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