Lithographically patterned nanowire electrodeposition: a method for patterning electrically continuous metal nanowires on dielectrics.

TLDR: The temperature-dependent resistance of 100 microm sections of Au and Pd wires is measured in order to estimate an electrical grain size for comparison with measurements by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy.

Abstract: Lithographically patterned nanowire electrodeposition (LPNE) is a new method for fabricating polycrystalline metal nanowires using electrodeposition. In LPNE, a sacrificial metal (M1 = silver or nickel) layer, 5−100 nm in thickness, is first vapor deposited onto a glass, oxidized silicon, or Kapton polymer film. A (+) photoresist (PR) layer is then deposited, photopatterned, and the exposed Ag or Ni is removed by wet etching. The etching duration is adjusted to produce an undercut ≈300 nm in width at the edges of the exposed PR. This undercut produces a horizontal trench with a precisely defined height equal to the thickness of the M1 layer. Within this trench, a nanowire of metal M2 is electrodeposited (M2 = gold, platinum, palladium, or bismuth). Finally the PR layer and M1 layer are removed. The nanowire height and width can be independently controlled down to minimum dimensions of 5 nm (h) and 11 nm (w), for example, in the case of platinum. These nanowires can be 1 cm in total length. We measure the ...