Development of a nanostructural microwave probe based on GaAs

In order to develop a new structural microwave probe, we studied the fabrication of an AFM probe on a GaAs wafer. A waveguide was introduced by evaporating Au film on the top and bottom surfaces of the GaAs AFM probe where a tip 7 mu m high with a 2.0 aspect ratio was formed and the dimensions of the cantilever were 250 x 30 x 15 mu m. The open structure of the waveguide at the tip of the probe was obtained by FIB fabrication. An AFM image and profile analysis for a standard sample, obtained by the fabricated GaAs microwave probe and a commercial Si AFM probe, indicate that the fabricated probe has a similar capability for measurement of material topography as compared to the commercial probe.