Reproducible Electrochemical Etching of Tungsten Probe Tips

Abstract

An electrochemical procedure in KOH electrolyte has been developed to reproducibly produce ∼5 nm radius tungsten probe tips. It has been found that a spurious electrochemical etching process, driven by the natural potential difference between an Ir electrode and the W tip, causes rapid tip blunting at the end of the electrochemical etching period. By electrically reversing this potential difference within 500 ns following tip separation, the blunting process is eliminated yielding sharp tips with varying cone angles.