title: A scanning probe microscope for magnetoresistive cantilevers utilizing a nested scanner design for large-area scans.
abstract: We describe an atomic force microscope (AFM) for the characterization of self-sensing tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) cantilevers. Furthermore, we achieve a large scan-range with a nested scanner design of two independent piezo scanners: a small high resolution scanner with a scan range of 5 × 5 × 5 μm(3) is mounted on a large-area scanner with a scan range of 800 × 800 × 35 μm(3). In order to characterize TMR sensors on AFM cantilevers as deflection sensors, the AFM is equipped with a laser beam deflection setup to measure the deflection of the cantilevers independently. The instrument is based on a commercial AFM controller and capable to perform large-area scanning directly without stitching of images. Images obtained on different samples such as calibration standard, optical grating, EPROM chip, self-assembled monolayers and atomic step-edges of gold demonstrate the high stability of the nested scanner design and the performance of self-sensing TMR cantilevers.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Meier
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Förste
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kaiserstraße 2, 24143 Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tavassolizadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Bielefeld University, Universitässtraße 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rott
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kaiserstraße 2, 24143 Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meyners
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gröger
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Bielefeld University, Universitässtraße 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Reiss
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kaiserstraße 2, 24143 Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Eckhard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Quandt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany ; Institute of Applied Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang-Gaede-Straße 1, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schimmel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hölscher
keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); magnetomechanical effects; magnetostriction; scanning probe microscopes and components
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