Refined tip preparation by electrochemical etching and ultrahigh vacuum treatment to obtain atomically sharp tips for scanning tunneling microscope and atomic force microscope

Journal Article · Tue Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3660279· OSTI ID:22063753

Hagedorn, Till; Ouali, Mehdi El; Paul, William; Oliver, David; Miyahara, Yoichi; Gruetter, Peter ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 Rue University, Montreal, QC H3A2T8 (Canada)

A modification of the common electrochemical etching setup is presented. The described method reproducibly yields sharp tungsten tips for usage in the scanning tunneling microscope and tuning fork atomic force microscope. In situ treatment under ultrahigh vacuum (p {<=}10{sup -10} mbar) conditions for cleaning and fine sharpening with minimal blunting is described. The structure of the microscopic apex of these tips is atomically resolved with field ion microscopy and cross checked with field emission.

• OSTI ID: 22063753
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 82, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
ELECTROCHEMISTRY
ETCHING
FIELD EMISSION
ION MICROSCOPY
PRESSURE RANGE MICRO PA
SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY
TUNGSTEN
TUNING