Study of Magnetic Micro-Ellipses by Cantilever Sensor

In this paper, we propose a method for prototyping cantilever sensors by means of a modification of commercial atomic force microscopy cantilevers, using electron beam lithography and focused ion beam milling. To overcome obstacles with resist coating related to spin-coating of nonplanar 3D substrates, in this case of free-standing cantilevers, we propose a modified method based on spin-coating technique. An auxiliary atomic force microscopy chip was inserted below the cantilever to quasi-planarize the surface during spin-coating of electron beam resist. Magnetic micro-ellipses were prepared at the free-end of the cantilever by electron beam lithography. We propose a design of a cantilever sensor for the study of magnetic coupling between two cantilevers, prepared by focused ion beam milling. In ideal case, the coupling could be detected by a shift in resonance peaks. Attractive and repulsive forces between magnetic structures were shown by magnetic force microscopy.