Electrochemical etching of metal wires in low-stress electric contact using a liquid metal electrode to fabricate tips for scanning tunneling microscopy

A liquid metal electrode of Ga was used to reproducibly fabricate a sharpened metal tip with an elongated shank by electrochemical etching for scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The electrode was in contact with the wire for the tip in low stress; it was prevented that the tip end from being rugged owing to mechanical tear-off on splitting into two pieces by etching. The wire was vertically penetrated down through a film of an electrolyte solution held in meniscus onto a platinum (Pt) ring, and the lower part of the wire under the film was softly in contact with an electrode of the liquid metal having high wettability and viscosity, resulting in a good electric contact. A tip with a radius less than 20 nm and an elongated tip length of order of 1 μm was obtained, which was preferable for the build-up process in a thermal-field treatment. The tip was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy and field emission microscopy, and used in STM observation.