Simulation-guided Nanofabrication of High-quality Practical Tungsten Probes

Overview

Journal RSC Adv

Publisher Royal Society of Chemistry

Specialty Chemistry

Date 2022 May 6

PMID 35516222

Authors

Chengye Dong

Guodong Meng

Sandra Elizabeth Saji

Xinyu Gao

Pengcheng Zhang

Di Wu

Yi Pan

Zongyou Yin

Yonghong Cheng

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Micro/nanoscale tungsten probes are widely utilized in the fields of surface analysis, biological engineering, amongst several others. This work performs comprehensive dynamic simulations on the influences of electric field distribution, surface tension and the bubbling situation on electrochemical etching behaviors, and then the tip dimension. Results show that the etching rate is reliant on the electric field distribution determined by the cathode dimension. The necking position lies in the meniscus rather than at the bottom of the meniscus. A bubble-free condition is mandatory to stabilize the distribution of OH and WO ions for a smooth tungsten probe surface. Such simulation-guidance enables the nanofabrication of probes with a high aspect ratio (10 : 1), ultra-sharp tip apex (40 nm) and ultra-smooth surface. These probes have been successfully developed for high-performance application with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). The acquired decent atomic resolution images of epitaxial bilayer graphene robustly verify the feasibility of the practical level application of these nanoscale probes. Therefore, these nanoscale probes would be of great benefit to the development of advanced analytical science and nano-to-atomic scale experimental science and technology.

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