A Near-Field Scanning Microwave

Microscope for measurement of the

permittivity and loss of high-loss materials
A P Gregory1, J F Blackburn1, K Lees1, R N Clarke1, T E Hodgetts2, S M Hanham3, N Klein3
National Physical Laboratory (NPL), 2Consultant to NPL, 3Imperial College London

Introduction

Figure 1: Schematic of
microwave microscope
(with tuning fork for
detection of contact mode)

A near-field scanning microwave microscope (NSMM) [1] can be used for measuring
the complex permittivity of polished samples on the micron scale. The instrument
described in this poster (Figure 1) is based on a resonant cavity with a wire probe
(Figure 2). A dielectric specimen placed at the probe tip causes shifts in the resonant
frequency and Q-factor which can be measured by using a Vector Network Analyser
(VNA). From these the permittivity and loss of the specimen can be determined.
Recent progress in two areas in the development of such instruments is described
in this poster:
Implementation of a beam deflection system for obtaining contact mode.
Improvements to calibration algorithms to allow high-loss materials to be
measured. This is demonstrated by measurements on polar liquids.

Obtaining contact mode

The gap between the probe tip and specimen has a critical effect on the measurement, and must
therefore be controlled. Contact mode, corresponding to a gap of ~10nm, is obtained by a feedback
circuit and shear force detection. This can be achieved using 32 kHz tuning forks with an insulating
polymer strip (Figure 3). These are difficult to manufacture, so an optical beam deflection system
(Figures 4 and 5) has been built. This requires modification of the cavity inner-conductor to form
a cantilever (Figure 6), which is excited by a dither piezo. Vibration of the cantilever is detected by
subtraction of the optical intensity measured by a pair of photodiodes. A change in the resonant
response of the cantilever occurs in contact mode.
Figure 2: Quarter-wave cavity with wire probe

Laser

Single crystal
calibration specimens

Figure 3: Tuning fork assembly

Liquid cell

Prism

Figure 5: Photograph of cavity and beam deflection system

Calibration and measurements

Modelling

Samples of polar liquids were contained in a cell with a window (PEEK) 0.05-mm thick (Figure 7).
Calculation by the image-charge technique for a two layer sample requires the tip radius to be
known. This was one of the outputs of a calibration process based on fitting to approach curve
measurements (Figure 8) on bulk low-loss single-crystals. The fitting process only used data in the
0 - 10m range, as at large gaps the measured frequency-shift deviates from the expected behaviour.

The frequency perturbation caused

by the specimen can be calculated
from the real part of permittivity
and the tip radius (spherical tips
are used) by an electrostatic
image-charge method [1].The
image charge technique can
also be applied to two-layer
specimens [2]. The measured
frequency and Q-factor can be
combined by eqn. (1) to give the
Laplacian complex frequency.
By applying this in the equations
given in references [1] and [2],
complex permittivity
can be obtained.

Specimen

Nominal permittivity Fitted to 0 to 10 m

and loss at 1.37 GHz
approach curve

Fitted to contactmode data only

tan

tan

tan

Fused silica

3.8

~ 10-4

3.2

-0.02

3.3

-0.02

*YAG

10.6

~ 10-5

10.6

0.02

10.9

0.00

*LAO

23.9

~ 10-4

23.8

0.01

23.4

0.01

Ethanol

10.0

0.92

9.5

0.91

9.9

0.93

Ethanediol
Dimethyl
sulfoxide

20.4
45.8

0.83
0.16

19.7
41.6

0.86
0.15

20.2
43.9

0.88
0.16

f = f

j
1+
2Q

Figure 7: Liquid cell

(1)
Figure 8: Measured approach curves for Lanthanum Aluminate (LAO) and Yttrium
Aluminium Garnet (YAG) single-crystal specimens. The change in resonant frequency
compared to that obtained in contact mode is plotted as a function of the gap between
probe tip and specimen.

References
[1] C. Gao and X.-D. Xiang, Quantitative microwave near-field microscopy of dielectric properties, Rev. Sci. Instrum., vol 69, no. 11, pp. 3846-3851, 1998.
[2] C. Gao, B. Hu, P. Zhang, M. Huang, W. Liu, I. Takeuchi, Quantitative microwave evanescent microscopy of dielectric thin films using a recursive image charge approach, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 84, no. 23, pp. 4647-4649, 2004
[3] A. Gregory and R. Clarke, Tables of the complex permittivity of dielectric reference liquids up to 5 GHz, NPL Report MAT 23, 2012.

Acknowledgements
This research was funded under the project Electromagnetic Materials Measurements for Industrial Applications (EMINDA).
This was a 3-year project under the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) under Grant Agreement No. 217257.
The EMRP is jointly funded by the EMRP participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union.

11182/1114

Table 1 shows that accurate measurements of the permittivity and loss of liquids [3] are obtained
following a calibration against low-loss solid reference specimens. Note that there is no requirement
to use a lossy solid material as a reference specimen, which is an advantage for the technique as
suitable materials that are uniform on a small scale are not readily available.

Figure 6: Cavity inner-conductor with cantilever and

piezo transducer

Queens Printer and Controller of HMSO, 2014.

Figure 4: Schematic of beam deflection system (alternative to tuning fork). Deflections of the shadow cast by the cantilever are
detected using a Position Sensitive Photodiode (PSPD).

Microwave cavity

Position-sensitive
photodiode

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