Preparation of sharp gold tips for STM by using electrochemical etching method

Baykul, M Celalettin

doi:10.1016/s0921-5107(99)00566-8

Cited by 33 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The voltage is turned off immediately after the precipitation of the immersed wire portion in order to avoid over-etching, which would blunt the tip. Stop-voltage circuits have been developed [ 48 – 49 ] to automatize this task. The tips are finally washed by shaking in the etching solution and, subsequently, by pouring a few drops of HCl and rinsing in ethanol and water.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low cost tips for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy fabricated by two-step electrochemical etching of 125 µm diameter gold wires

Foti

Barreca

Fazio

et al. 2018

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol.

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Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) has become a well-applied technique for nanospectroscopy, allowing for single molecule sensitivity with sub-nanometer spatial resolution. The demand for efficient, reproducible and cost-effective probes for TERS is increasing. Here we report on a new electrochemical etching protocol to fabricate TERS tips starting from 125 µm diameter gold wires in a reproducible way. The process is reliable (50% of the tips have radius of curvature <35 nm, 66% <80 nm), fast (less than 2 min) and 2.5 times cheaper than the etching of standard 250 µm diameter wires. The TERS performance of the tips is tested on dyes, pigments and biomolecules and enhancement factors higher than 105 are observed. TERS mapping with a spatial resolution of 5 nm is demonstrated.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low cost tips for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy fabricated by two-step electrochemical etching of 125 µm diameter gold wires

Foti

Barreca

Fazio

et al. 2018

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol.

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“…The gold tip was electrochemically etched [18][19][20][21][22] starting from a 0.5 mm gold wire of 99.9985% purity purchased from Alpha Aesar (product number 10966). The tip acted as an anode while a platinum foil acted as a cathode in a diluted 40% HCl solution that was heated to 50 • C. A function generator produced a 10 kHz squarewave signal with 5 V peak-to-peak and 2.5 V offset in order to act as the voltage source for the electrochemical reaction.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate experiment in superconductor point-contact spectroscopy with a Nb/Au junction

Janson

Klein

Lewis

et al. 2012

American Journal of Physics

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We describe an experiment in superconductivity suitable for an advanced undergraduate laboratory. Point-contact spectroscopy is performed by measuring the differential conductance between an electrochemically etched gold tip and a 100-nm superconducting niobium film with a transition temperature Tc ≈ 7 K. By fitting the results to Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory using a finite lifetime of quasiparticles, we obtain a superconducting gap energy ∆ ≈ 1.53 meV, a lower bound to the Fermi velocity vF ≥ 3.1 × 10 7 cm/s, and a BCS coherence length ξ ≈ 43 nm for niobium. These results are in good agreement with previous measurements.

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“…16,21,22 Using a combination of these techniques allows one to produce tungsten tips which are stable during STM scanning and routinely demonstrate atomic resolution. 21 Besides W and Pt-Ir, STM probes have been successfully fabricated from several other materials including single crystals of molybdenum, 23 Ag wire, [24][25][26] Au wire, 8,27,28 Pt, Ir, Pd, and Rh wires. 8 At present, it is possible to resolve surface corrugation down to one hundredth of the atomic diameter and even distinguish between atomic orbitals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Composite Fe3O4–W(100) probes for scanning tunneling microscopy

Bozhko

Chekmazov

Усов

et al. 2017

Journal of Applied Physics

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A new two-step technique was developed to fabricate a composite probe for a Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). The first step was to form a flat area on the W(100) surface of several hundred square nanometers or less in an area at the end of a single crystalline tungsten tip. The second step consisted of epitaxial growth of a nanoparticle on this flat area by molecular beam epitaxy. Both atomic resolution imaging on the MoO2/Mo(110) surface covered with Fe nanoclusters and magnetic contrast on Fe nanoclusters were obtained at T = 78 K as an indication of an excellent performance and stability of the composite STM probe. The developed technique of composite probes formation is very promising for the fabrication of probes with the required physical characteristics.

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Preparation of sharp gold tips for STM by using electrochemical etching method

Cited by 33 publications

References 6 publications

Low cost tips for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy fabricated by two-step electrochemical etching of 125 µm diameter gold wires

Low cost tips for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy fabricated by two-step electrochemical etching of 125 µm diameter gold wires

Undergraduate experiment in superconductor point-contact spectroscopy with a Nb/Au junction

Composite Fe3O4–W(100) probes for scanning tunneling microscopy

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