Patent ID: 6979406

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a cantilever-type near-field probe for a head of an optical data storage; the method comprising: forming a first dielectric film on a bottom portion of a silicon substrate as a mask layer; forming a second dielectric film on a top portion of a silicon substrate as a mask layer: forming a circular dielectric film on a portion of the second dielectric film formed on the silicon substrate; dry-etching the second dielectric film, which is exposed under the circular dielectric film, on the silicon substrate; wet-etching an exposed silicon substrate in such a way that a width of an interface between the circular dielectric film and the exposed silicon substrate has a predetermined value, to form an initial probe; depositing an oxide film of a predetermined thickness on the upper portion of the etched silicon substrate of the initial probe; removing the circular dielectric film after forming the oxide film; applying a passivation layer on the oxide film of the initial probe with the circular dielectric film removed; forming a passivation film pattern on a bottom surface of the initial probe with the passivation layer applied, and exposing the silicon; etching only the silicon on an exposed bottom of the initial probe; etching the passivation layer applied on an upper surface of the initial probe to form an aperture; and depositing a metal film of a predetermined thickness on an upper portion of the oxide film to provide a near-field aperture to the initial probe.