Preparation of Atomically Flat Gold Substrates for AFM Measurements

Sample preparation is the most important part of a successful measurement with an atomic force microscope (AFM). While various kinds of substrates are used for that purpose, atomically flat gold proved to possess some advantages, namely chemical inertness against oxygen, stability against radicals and suitability for formation of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of organic alkanethiols. Fast and simple preparation procedures to achieve quality atomically flat gold substrates are necessary to achieve reproducible results in high resolution imaging. Here we report an improved technique to produce atomically flat gold in a reliable way. We demonstrate its use on the example of high resolution imaging of single walled carbon nanotubes as test molecules.