The CantiClever technology has been specifically designed for high resolution MFM application. It is the results of years of innovative development at the Systems and Materials for Information Storage Group of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotecnology at the University of Twente, The Netherlands.

Theoretical background
The starting point for the development of the CantiClever MFM probe is the model of the ideal probe for MFM: a bar magnet. Its shape should be long, to create stability due to shape anisotropy. Its diameter should be as small as possible to yield high special resolution. The magnetic material should be of high magnetic moment for high SNR and it should be single domain for magnetic stability. The bar magnet should be positioned perpendicular to the sample surface.

Traditional probes
Standard available probes do not resemble the ideal probe shape at all. With the use of Smart Coating technology, the bar magnet shape is approximated. It can be further approximated by application of smart coating on high aspect ratio probes (for instance the whisker type probe, SmartTip is offering). However none of them will fully resemble the bar magnet shape.

Realization of a bar magnet with nm dimensions
To create the desired bar magnet the CantiClever probe was invented. Where a standard probe has some sharp shape tip (usually some form of pyramid) hanging down from the center of the cantilever, the CantiClever has a triangular shaped thin film (30-50 nm thick) as tip, hanging down from the side of the cantilever. Since this SiN triangle is defined by thin film lithography, there is full control over the shape and orientation of the triangle. The orientation of the triangle is such that one of its legs is perfectly perpendicular to the sample (i.e. corrected mounted angle of the cantilever). The bar magnet is created by deposition of a magnetic coating on the edge of this leg.

Result
The result is a bar magnet like probe, perpendicular to the sample surface for very high resolution MFM imaging. We have been able to demonstrate spatial resolution of < 23 nm. Due to its very confined flux at the tip apex and the absence of a background magnetic field, it is also very suitable to image soft magnetic samples without disturbing the domain walls.