Note: A simple, convenient, and reliable method to prepare gold scanning tunneling microscope tips.

A simple method to prepare gold tips for scanning tunneling microscopy has been introduced. In this method, electrochemical etching without a hazardous electrolyte was employed. The setup uses basic laboratory instrumentation to control the etching process. This avoids purchasing complicated, expensive, and dedicated equipment for tip preparation. A procedure to optimize the etching parameters by setting the current limit is described. Etched tips were checked with both optical and scanning electron microscopy.