SWITCHING MAGNETIZATION MAGNETIC FORCE MICROSCOPY - AN ALTERNATIVE TO CONVENTIONAL LIFT-MODE MFM

Vladimír Cambel – Dagmar Gregušová – Peter Eliáš – Ján Fedor –
Ivan Kostič – Ján Maňka – Peter Ballo

   In the paper we present an overview of the latest progress in the conventional lift-mode magnetic force microscopy (MFM) technique, achieved by advanced MFM tips and by lowering the lift height. Although smaller lift height offers improved spatial resolution, we show that lowered tip-sample distance mixes magnetic, atomic and electric forces. We describe an alternative to the lift-mode procedure - Switching Magnetization Magnetic Force Microscopy [SM-MFM], which is based on two-pass scanning in tapping mode AFM with reversed tip magnetization between the scans. We propose design and calculate the magnetic properties of such SM-MFM tips. For best performance the tips must exhibit low magnetic moment, low switching field, and single-domain state at remanence. The switching field of such tips is calculated for Permalloy hexagons.

Keywords: magnetic force microscopy, micromagnetic calculations, switching field

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