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Analysis of a transmission mode scanning microwave microscope for subsurface imaging at the nanoscale

Oladipo, AO; Lavdas, S; Panoiu, NC; Lucibello, A; Sardi, GM; Proietti, E; Marcelli, R; ... Kienberger, F; + view all (2014) Analysis of a transmission mode scanning microwave microscope for subsurface imaging at the nanoscale. Applied Physics Letters , 105 (13) , Article 133112 . 10.1063/1.4897278. Green open access

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Abstract

We present a comprehensive analysis of the imaging characteristics of a scanning microwave microscopy (SMM) system operated in the transmission mode. In particular, we use rigorous three-dimensional finite-element simulations to investigate the effect of varying the permittivity and depth of sub-surface constituents of samples, on the scattering parameters of probes made of a metallic nano-tip attached to a cantilever. Our results prove that one can achieve enhanced imaging sensitivity in the transmission mode SMM (TM-SMM) configuration, from twofold to as much as 5× increase, as compared to that attainable in the widely used reflection mode SMM operation. In addition, we demonstrate that the phase of the S-parameter is much more sensitive to changes of the system parameters as compared to its magnitude, the scattering parameters being affected the most by variations in the conductivity of the substrate. Our analysis is validated by a good qualitative agreement between our modeling results and experimental data. These results suggest that TM-SMM systems can be used as highly efficient imaging tools with new functionalities, findings which could have important implications to the development of improved experimental imaging techniques.

Type: Article
Title: Analysis of a transmission mode scanning microwave microscope for subsurface imaging at the nanoscale
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1063/1.4897278
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4897278
Additional information: © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Electronic and Electrical Eng
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1453997
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