Cantilever Probe Integrated with Light-Emitting Diode, Waveguide, Aperture, and Photodiode for Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscope

A microfabricated scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) probe integrated with a light-emitting diode, waveguide, aperture, and photodiode is described. This probe includes all optical elements necessary for SNOM on the Si cantilever. By using a-Si as the core layer and SiO2 as the cladding layer, the process for fabricating the waveguide is compatible with that for fabricating the photodiode. The light is confirmed to transmit along the waveguide route with the large curvature. The obtained SNOM image shows a spatial resolution better than 200 nm.