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Updated: Nov 17, 2025
Electrochemical Etching and Characterization of Sharp Field Emission Points for Electron Impact Ionization
Published on: July 12, 2016
Field Assisted Reactive Gas Etching of Multiple Tips Observed using FIM
Rezwan Ahmed1, Radovan Urban2, Mark Salomons3
1Department of Molecular and Material Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan; Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba 305-0801, Japan.
Abstract:
A simple and cost effective method to fabricate multiple tungsten (W) single atom tips (SATs) from both poly and single crystalline wires is reported. Two or four tips attached to a holder are electrochemically etched together in NaOH solution followed by a controlled field assisted reactive gas etching in vacuum using nitrogen as an etching gas and helium as an imaging gas. A Common high voltage is applied simultaneously to all nanotips to shape the apexes towards single atoms. Single atom tips were achieved for both W(111) and W(110) while trimer tips were also achieved for W(111). This observation can lead to an important step towards realizing simplified etching processes of multiple tips which in turn can help to simultaneously fabricate numerous tips leading to mass fabrication and characterization.
