title: Note: A simple, convenient, and reliable method to prepare gold scanning tunneling microscope tips.
abstract: A simple method to prepare gold tips for scanning tunneling microscopy has been introduced. In this method, electrochemical etching without a hazardous electrolyte was employed. The setup uses basic laboratory instrumentation to control the etching process. This avoids purchasing complicated, expensive, and dedicated equipment for tip preparation. A procedure to optimize the etching parameters by setting the current limit is described. Etched tips were checked with both optical and scanning electron microscopy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180, USA.
authors.forename: Guoguang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Swatilekha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lewis