Magnetic force microscopy using focused ion beam sharpened tip with deposited antiferro–ferromagnetic multiple layers

The resolution of magnetic force microscopy can be improved by sharpening the tip using a focused ion beam (FIB). However, when the tip is too sharp it is difficult to deposit continuous films on the tip, and the magnetization of a certain portion of the tip may become unstable due to the small thickness or particle size of the magnetic coating. This in turn may degrade the signal to noise ratio of the detection signal. In this work, a novel tip coated with antiferromagnet–ferromagnet exchanged coupled multiple layers was developed. It was found that the newly developed tip exhibits a much higher resolution than the conventional trimmed and nontrimmed tips.