Fabrication of ion-trap electrodes by self-terminated electrochemical etching

Self-terminated electrochemical etching is applied to fabricate needle electrodes for ion traps. We study the surface morphology of the electrodes with scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, and find that the surface curvature and roughness can be reduced by optimizing the etching parameters. Our method provides a convenient and low-cost solution to improve the surface quality of electrodes for ion traps. © 2016, Wang et al.; licensee Springer.