We present a simple method to produce sharp gold tips with excellent surface quality based on electrochemical etching with potassium chloride. Radii of curvature lie in the range of 20–40 nm and the surface roughness is measured to less than 0.8 nm. The tips are well suited for field emission, field ion microscopy, and likely for tip-enhanced Raman scattering as well as tip-enhanced near-field imaging.
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2011
American Institute of Physics
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