Principle

1) A special magnetized AFM tip is first used in intermittent contact mode to profile the topography of the surface to analyse.

2) In a second step, the tip re-trace the memorized profile of the surface from a set distance above the surface and detects changes in the resonant frequency of the cantilever induced by tip-sample magnetic interactions.

3) MFM image of the magnetic field gradient, which is independent of the surface topography, can thus be reconstructed.

MFM image (2nd scan) - Evidence of Magnetic domains