The thermal stability of Pt/Ir coated AFM tips for resistive switching measurements

► We investigate most popular Pt covered silicon AFM tips by LC-AFM, XPS, SEM and TEM. ► The thermal stability under oxidizing and reducing condition was investigated. ► The platinum coating of the tips tends to agglomerate in high temperatures. ► The tip electrical conductivity decreases with the temperature.► Maximum applicable temperature is around 500 ° C in air and around 600 ° C in vacuum.