How thick is the platinum coating around the probe apex?
According to our recent experiment, the thickness of the platinum layer on the probe apex was estimated to be approximately 8 nm while the layer on flat surfaces was 20 nm thick. The tip radius after platinum/titanium coating was 13.08 nm (ave.), which is sufficiently sharp, although a modest increase from that of the basic silicon probe, {4.68 nm (ave.)} is perceived. • Am I better to use platinum-deposited probe also in UHV-SPM? In most of the cases, it is not necessary, I believe. Highly doped silicon probe is the best for UHV-SPM with a tip cleaning mechanism, at present. Highly doped silicon probes are frequently used for electric measurements because of the relatively high conductivity and their sharp tip radius, which can be less than 10 nm. The native oxide layer formed on the surface of the probe when exposed to air sometimes complicated the data interpretation. But now researchers know that removing the oxide layer in the UHV chamber before scanning results in simple scheme o
