Epitaxial Growth of Silicon Nanowires and Niobium Thin Films for Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy
Michele Piscitelli
Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (MRFM) is an imaging technique enabling the acquisition of magnetic resonance images at nanometer scales. Single electron spin sensitivity has been demonstrated [1] and current MRFM research is focused on working towards achieving single nuclear spin sensitivity. In general, an MRFM setup requires a nano-scale source of high magnetic field gradients to modulate the sample spins and a cantilever-based detection scheme to measure their magnetic moment. Our planned MRFM experiment is designed to be an improvement and expansion of our current MRFM capabilities [2], where Silicon Nanowires (SiNWs) are used instead of cantilevers for magnetometry and a constriction patterned from a conductive thin film is used to provide field gradient modulation. In this talk, I will discuss current progress with growing our own SiNWs using our dedicated SiCVD system. I will also outline our preliminary efforts to fabricate improved performance constrictions from Niobium thin films grown epitaxially using the IQCs Omicron Cluster tool.
[1] Rugar et al. Nature 430, 329 (2004)
[2] J. Nichol et al. PRB 85, 054414 (2012)