  Hard point-contact spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy/spectroscopy
are powerful techniques for investigating materials with strong expandability.
To support these studies, tips with various physical and chemical properties
are required. To ensure the reproducibility of experimental results, the
fabrication of tips should be standardized, and a controllable and convenient
system should be set up. Here a systematic methodology to fabricate various
tips is proposed, involving electrochemical etching reactions. The reaction
parameters fall into four categories: solution, power supply, immersion depth,
and interruption. An etching system was designed and built so that these
parameters could be accurately controlled. With this system, etching parameters
for copper, silver, gold, platinum/iridium alloy, tungsten, lead, niobium,
iron, nickel, cobalt, and permalloy were explored and standardized. Among these
tips, silver and niobium's new recipes were explored and standardized. Optical
and scanning electron microscopies were performed to characterize the sharp
needles. Relevant point-contact experiments were carried out with an etched
silver tip to confirm the suitability of the fabricated tips.
