This is the laboratory standard for atomic-scale scanning probe microscopy. Flame-anneal it and you get flawless, atomically flat Au(111) terraces several hundred nanometers wide.
12×12mm is currently unavailable – 11×11mm remains in stock. Inquiries for 12×12mm are still welcome.
Each arrandee™ Gold on Glass substrate is a 99.999% pure Au(111) gold film, roughly 250 nm ± 20 nm thick, deposited without an adhesion layer directly onto premium D263 borosilicate glass. It ships in the standard 11×11 mm format (glass approx. 0.7 mm thick) – the 12×12 mm format is currently unavailable, but inquiries are welcome. Substrates are packed in inert-gas-flushed glass tubes that protect the surface until you're ready to flame-anneal it. Custom sizes and coatings are available on request.
Most labs use our gold-on-glass substrates for scanning probe microscopy (SPM, AFM, STM), where the atomically flat Au(111) terraces give a clean, reproducible surface for imaging and molecular-scale measurements. They're just as common as the base for self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), and as working electrodes in electrochemistry such as cyclic voltammetry and EC-STM. In the life-science and bioengineering literature, the same product is sometimes described as a gold-coated microscope slide or gold-coated coverslip, used as a conductive, atomically smooth support for cell and biomolecule imaging. If you're weighing gold-on-glass against mica, single-crystal, or template-stripped gold, our substrate comparison guide walks through the trade-offs.
Precise parameters for demanding microscopic investigations
Answers about the use and properties of our Au(111) substrates
An Au(111) substrate is an extremely thin, single-crystal-like oriented gold layer on a glass support. Because of the hexagonal packing of gold atoms in this crystallographic plane, heating the surface produces atomically flat terraces well suited to high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).
We recommend using a propane or butane gas flame (camping gas torch). Avoid an excess of oxygen, which would produce too hot a flame and risk melting the glass plate.
The adhesive-free manufacturing process and the sealed glass tubes mean the substrates are, in theory, shelf-stable indefinitely. In practice, gold surfaces pick up atmospheric oxygen and hydrocarbons over time, so we recommend annealing the substrate freshly in the lab right before use.
Our gold-on-glass substrates are available in the standard 11x11 mm size, starting from €25 per substrate. The 12x12 mm size is currently unavailable, but inquiries are welcome. Custom sizes and coatings can be arranged on request.
Yes – "gold on glass", "gold-coated microscope slide", and "gold-coated coverslip" all describe the same underlying product: a thin, high-purity gold film on a glass support. Which term is used often just depends on the field: surface scientists tend to say "gold-on-glass" or "Au(111) substrate", while life-science and bioengineering labs more often say "gold-coated coverslip" or "gold-coated microscope slide".
How to prepare and characterize thiol-based SAMs on Au(111) gold substrates.
Read the GuideGold-on-glass vs. mica vs. single crystal vs. template-stripped gold, compared.
Compare SubstratesA selection of peer-reviewed studies using arrandee™ Au(111) gold substrates
López-Nebreda, Agraït et al. · Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Read the PaperMohseni Armaki, Taheri et al. · TU Delft / Univ. of Groningen
Read the PaperMechanobiology / molecular motor research team
Read the Paper