Electric field-induced changes of W(110) and W(111) tips

Using field emission and scanning electron microscopy we have studied the influence of strong electric fields on the thermally induced growth behaviour of field emission tips. For smaller fields (i.e. smaller than needed for a satisfactory field emission image) we observe an enlargement of low-index faces, which for higher fields develops into a building-up of micro-structures and roughening on the initially spherical part of the tip surface. In an intermediate state only the region near the (111) directions contributes to the field emission pattern. For the highest fields employed the results indicate the growth of local protrusions preferentially near (100) faces. Our results show that in scanning tunnelling microscopy W(111) tips should be superior to the commonly used W(110) tips.