at 78 K*

NiTe₂ is a semimetal which has garnered interest due to recent observation of topological states and Dirac nodes near the Fermi level (E_F). Here, Au-assisted exfoliation of bulk NiTe₂ is performed to generate a few-layer NiTe₂ surface to better understand the evolution of the band structure as a function of film thickness. Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy measurements are performed at 78 K to probe the local density of electronic states (LDOS) at the surface and around defects. Multiple peaks in the LDOS are observed near E_F and are compared to those obtained computationally from density functional theory (DFT) to reveal the nature of these features in the electronic structure.