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1756327 
Journal Article 
A reproducible method to fabricate atomically sharp tips for scanning tunneling microscopy 
Nakamura, Y; Mera, Y; Maeda, K 
1999 
1 
Review of Scientific Instruments
ISSN: 0034-6748
EISSN: 1089-7623 
70 
8 
3373-3376 
WOS:000081720900030 
The electrochemical etching method by Ibe [J. Vac. Sci.
Technol. A 8, 3570 (1990)] to fabricate sharp tips for scanning tunneling microscopy was modified
by shortening the cutoff time of the etching current after the material wire drops off at the
air-electrolyte interface. The tip radius measured by field ion microscopy was successfully
reduced to 8 nm when the cutoff time was shortened to 50 ns. The dependence of the field-emitting
electron current from the sharpest tips was close to one expected from the Fowler-Nordheim
formula with a reasonable value for the emitting area of the tip. (C) 1999 American Institute of
Physics. [S0034-6748(99)01408-2].