Metallized pyramidal silicon probe with extremely high throughput and resolution capability for optical near-field technology

An optical near-field probe with extremely high throughput and resolution capability was fabricated with a metallized pyramidal silicon structure. Using a finite-difference time-domain method, we found the tip parameters that are required for localized surface plasmon resonance at the probe tip. The optical near-field energy distribution on the metallized pyramidal silicon probe was observed by scanning a fiber probe that had an aperture diameter of 50 nm. The spatial distribution profile observed was in good agreement with the numerical results. The throughput and spot size were determined to be 2.3% and 85 nm, respectively. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.