Microcantilevers for Atomic Force Microscope Data Storage

1 Introduction.- 1.1 High-density data storage: a survey.- 1.2 Alternative data storage approaches.- 1.3 AFM thermomechanical data storage.- 2 Heater-cantilevers for writing: design, fabrication and basic characterization.- 2.1 Overview.- 2.2 Heater design and fabrication.- 2.3 Thermal writing experiments.- 2.4 Measuring temperature coefficients of resistance.- 2.5 Electrical I-V characteristics.- 2.6 Summary.- 3 Heater-cantilevers for writing: further characterization, modelling and optimization.- 3.1 Overview.- 3.2 Time-domain thermal analysis.- 3.3 Frequency-domain thermal analysis.- 3.4 Heater design optimization.- 3.5 Summary.- 4 Piezoresistive cantilevers for readback.- 4.1 Overview.- 4.2 Piezoresistive cantilever design analysis.- 4.3 Piezoresistive cantilever fabrication.- 4.4 Characterization of piezoresistive cantilevers.- 4.5 Summary.- 5 Dual axis piezoresistive cantilevers: design, fabrication and characterization.- 5.1 Overview.- 5.2 Dual-axis cantilever design.- 5.3 Dual-axis cantilever fabrication.- 5.4 Dual-axis cantilever characterization.- 5.5 Summary.- 6 Dual-axis piezoresistive cantilevers for tracking: applications.- 6.1 Overview.- 6.2 AFM data tracking.- 6.3 Lateral force microscopy.- 6.4 Summary.- 7 Conclusion and future work.- 7.1 Summary of results.- 7.2 Future improvements.- Appendix 1 Heater-cantilever fabrication process.- Appendix 2 Piezoresistive cantilever fabrication process.- Appendix 3 Dual-axis piezoresistive cantilever fabrication process.