Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TERS) is a high-sensitivity and high spatial-resolution analytical technique based on the strong field enhancement provided by a sharp metallic tip. TERS holds the promise for a structural and chemical analysis of insulators on the nanoscale, where established techniques like AES are blurred due to surface charge accumulation. In order to conduct spectroscopy sensitive to ambient conditions on a variety of specimens, the use of an UHV environment is mandatory. Using a commercial non-contact Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) combined with a confocal optical setup in reflection geometry, we are targeting samples on non-transparent electrodes. The resulting design challenges with respect to quantum efficiency, optical accessibility of the tip and the optics themselves, e.g. numerical aperture and stability, were balanced and taken into consideration for the presented UHV-TERS setup. The entrance window to the UHV environment has been found to only influence the measured Raman spectra due to reflection losses. No influence due to birefringence or tension in the window was observed. Combining various laser wavelengths with different tip coatings provides a powerful analysis tool for a large variety of samples.

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