Near-field aperture fabricated by solid–solid diffusion

It is well known that some metals (such as Ag) can diffuse into chalcogenides (such as Te) to produce alloys at room temperature. Using this solid–solid diffusion, we propose a technique to fabricate a near-field probe. Some basic experiments were carried out by this technique, and we obtained images on both the atomic-force microscope and scanning near-field optical microscope at the same time. Furthermore, it was found that the shading of Te is superior to that of other metals such as Ag and Al.