Note: Production of sharp gold tips with high surface quality

Max Eisele; Michael Krüger; Markus Schenk; Alexander Ziegler; Peter Hommelhoff

doi:10.1063/1.3534078

Note: Production of sharp gold tips with high surface quality

Rev Sci Instrum. 2011 Feb;82(2):026101. doi: 10.1063/1.3534078.

Authors

Max Eisele¹, Michael Krüger, Markus Schenk, Alexander Ziegler, Peter Hommelhoff

Affiliation

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany.

PMID: 21361640
DOI: 10.1063/1.3534078

Abstract

We present a simple method to produce sharp gold tips with excellent surface quality based on electrochemical etching with potassium chloride. Radii of curvature lie in the range of 20-40 nm and the surface roughness is measured to less than 0.8 nm. The tips are well suited for field emission, field ion microscopy, and likely for tip-enhanced Raman scattering as well as tip-enhanced near-field imaging.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Electrochemistry / methods*
Gold / chemistry*
Potassium Chloride / chemistry
Surface Properties

Substances

Potassium Chloride
Gold