UC Riverside

With the continuous advancement of nanoscale-based data storage and memory technologies, a significant reduction in the dimensions of various materials and devices lead to an array of advancement-hindering phenomenon. The roadblock for these technologies is to find nanomaterials that can support the operation and progression with reducing scales. The focus of the presented research is to create new thin film compositions that take advantage of already optimized conventional materials. We explore layering different thin films in a way that uses the strength of each material while minimizes their weaknesses. These multilayer thin films are tailor-made to the specific functionality of a device or technology. In this work, design, fabrication, and characterization solutions relating to optical-based and magnetic-based futuristic nanotechnologies are explored.

Near field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM) is a nondestructive optical characterization technique that allows for optical analysis beyond the diffraction limit. To further advance this nanophotonics technology, the fabrication and analysis of novel Al/Ag multilayers thin films is developed and optimized. Our research data shows that the proposed nanomaterial produces relatively smaller grain sizes, higher grain density, lower roughness, better uniformity and higher predictability while still exhibiting outstanding optical properties. Results will be shown on how alternating grain sizes and grain boundaries between each of the Al and Ag bilayers is the main cause for such properties. Capable of enabling smaller and more uniform apertures with relatively less light “leakage, the newly developed compositions will be of major importance to the progression of broadband near-field scanning optical microscopy.

The exploding need for higher density storage devices recently led to innovative solutions to further increase the capacity of conventional Hard-disk Drives. One such technological solution is 3D-Multilevel magnetic media with microwave-assisted data recording. Continuing with the application of advanced optics and the multilayers approach, the goal for this research is to develop Co/Pd Mulilayers thin film, which have at least two magnetic recording layers that are both magnetically and electrically decoupled. To effectively analyze such media, much investigation went into custom-designing and assembling a nondestructive and scientifically credible optics-based magnetometery system. Results for this system, which is based on the Faraday Effect, reveal its capabilities of producing data for each recording layer across the thickness of 3D Multilayers Co/Pd media. The design consideration, fabrication, and analysis data for such media using SiO2 as a decoupling, seed, and capping layer along with in-situ applied magnetic field will be presented. The Faraday Effect-based system further proved effective in analyzing the magnetic properties of Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) structures. As is well known, YIG is a candidate material for the advancement of spintronics, a field that can greatly expand the functionality of current semiconductor memory technologies. Magnetic properties data will be presented for both uniform YIG-based thin films and patterned structures.