Fabrication of co-axial field emitter tips for scanning probe energy loss spectroscopy

We report on the fabrication of a co-axial tip for application to scanning probe energy loss spectroscopy (SPELS). The device consists of a 23.3 microm tall tip on a 76 microm tall mesa with a multilayer Si/Au/HfO(2)/Au structure; the outer Au and HfO(2) layers are stripped from the apex of the tip. The inner Au layer is used as a field emitting layer and the outer Au layer is grounded to screen the electric field between the tip and the substrate. The co-axial tip shows comparable field emission characteristics to electrochemically etched tungsten tips. The SPELS spectra of graphite obtained with the new tips show pi and sigma plasmon peaks and intense secondary electron emission peaks. It is anticipated that such co-axial tips will present a significant advantage for future angular resolved SPELS measurements.