Thermopiezoelectric Cantilever for Probe-Based Data Storage System

Thermopiezoelectric method, using poly silicon heater and a piezoelectric sensor, was proposed for writing and reading in a probe based data storage system. Resistively heated tip writes data bits while scanning over a polymer media and piezoelectric sensor reads data bits from the self-generated charges induced by the deflection of the cantilever. 34${\times}$34 array of thermopiezoelectric nitride cantilevers were fabricated by a single step wafer level transfer method. We analyzed the noise level of the charge amplifier and measured the noise signal. With the sensor and the charge amplifier 20mn of deflection could be detected at a frequency of 10KHz. Reading signal was obtained from the cantilever array and the sensitivity was calculated.