Advanced imaging of nanometer-scale recorded bits on super-resolution near-field optical disk

An advanced imaging technique is demonstrated for fast, non-destructive and high resolution characterizations for nanometer-scale recorded bits on a super-resolution near-field optical disk (super-RENS), For the first time, an array of individual 100 nm recorded marks is imaged and studied by using the conductive-atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) method. Discussions also include comparisons of 300 nm, 200 nm and 100 nm recorded marks on both a super-RENS disk and a commercial DVD disk, and the image results are evidence of the high carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) value on the super-RENS disk, even though the mark size has been shrunk to less than the diffraction limit.