A Study and Applications of A Silver Nano-Ball Probe Manufactured by Electroless Plating

• Main Authors: Ming-Han Yu, 游明翰
• Other Authors: 張茂男
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/90906276462218201058

碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 奈米科學研究所 === 101 === Field-sensitive scanning probe microscopy (FS-SPM) can observe electrical, magnetic properties as well as surface potential of materials. FS-SPM acquires physical information by a tapping-mode metal-coating probe. It observes different physical images through the variance of electrostatic force, magnetic force, and work function difference between a sample surface and a probe apex. Unfortunately, the sensing area of a metal-coating probe is large, inducing a stray field effect (SFE). SFE broadens the image and declines the spatial resolution in FS-SPM. In this study, we employed electroless plating to produce a silver nano-ball probe (SNBP) which can suppress the SFE. Using this method, the silicon tip apex has been no longer covered by silver, but the SNB substituted Si atoms on tip apex, increasing the purity of the SNB. With controlling the process conditions including the concentration of solution and the reaction time, the size of SNB can be adjusted. In addition, microwave annealing (MA) a low-thermal-budget annealing process modified the Ag/Si interface and enhanced the conductivity of the probes. The MA-treated SNBP has a negatively charged tip apex, which has been revealed by electrostatic force microscopy. This induced a surface potential shift and hence enhanced the SKPM signals. The last but not the least, scanning Kelvin probe microscopy evidently showed that the MA-treated SNBPs enhance the sensitivity and precision. The physical mechanism of MA influence on SKPM will be discussed in this work.