Please wait a minute...
Chinese Physics, 2001, Vol. 10(13): 151-156    DOI:
CROSS DISCIPLINARY PHYSICS AND RELATED AREAS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Prev   Next  

LOCAL ELECTROCHEMICAL DEPOSITION OF METAL ISLANDS MECHANICALLY INDUCED WITH THE TIP OF AN ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPE

Ch. Obermair, M. Müller, Ch. Klinke, Th. Schimmel
Institute for Applied Physics and Center for Applied Nanotechnology, Universit?t Karlsruhe, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
Abstract  The investigation of electrochemical processes on the nanometer scale is of great scientific as well as technological interest. Here we study the electrodeposition of copper on a polycrystalline gold surface, and demonstrate that copper deposition can be locally induced by mechanical activation with the tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM). Whereas at higher values of the deposition voltage (>100mV), a solid copper film can grow on the gold surface without tip activation, at lower voltages (approx. 30-60mV), copper deposition only occurs at the position where the surface is activated by the AFM tip due to scanning in mechanical contact with the sample. With this mechano-electrochemical "writing" process, which can be performed at ambient conditions, the controlled local deposition of metallic islands is possible, at applied force loads of the order of 10nN. Both the size-dependence of the locally induced structures on the deposition time and the reversibility of the local deposition process are studied. Depending on the deposition parameters, individual copper islands between 50nm and 200nm in size were deposited at predefined locations on the gold surface. The investigations open perspectives for the controlled mechano-electrochemical writing of more complex nanostructures with the AFM tip.
Keywords:  electrochemistry      nanostructuring      atomic force microscopy (AFM, SFM)      copper deposition  
Received:  02 December 2000      Revised:  27 March 2001      Accepted manuscript online: 
PACS:  8280F  
  6146  
  6116P  
  8115G  
Fund: Project supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within Sonderforschungsbereich 195.

Cite this article: 

Ch. Obermair, M. Müller, Ch. Klinke, Th. Schimmel LOCAL ELECTROCHEMICAL DEPOSITION OF METAL ISLANDS MECHANICALLY INDUCED WITH THE TIP OF AN ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPE 2001 Chinese Physics 10 151

[1] Mechanics of high-capacity electrodes in lithium-ion batteries
Ting Zhu. Chin. Phys. B, 2016, 25(1): 014601.
[2] Synthesis and performance of Zn-Ni-P thin films
V. Soare, M. Burada, I. Constantin, M. Ghita, V. Constantin, F. Miculescu, A. M. Popescu. Chin. Phys. B, 2015, 24(3): 036101.
[3] Transport of ions through a (6,6) carbon nanotube under electric fields
Shen Li (沈力), Xu Zhen (徐震), Zhou Zhe-Wei (周哲玮), Hu Guo-Hui (胡国辉). Chin. Phys. B, 2014, 23(11): 118201.
[4] Surface morphology evolution of Si(110) by ion sputtering as a function of sample temperature
Qi Le-Jun (漆乐俊), Ling Li (凌立), Li Wei-Qing (李维卿), Yang Xin-Ju (杨新菊), Gu Chang-Xin (顾昌鑫), Lu Ming (陆明). Chin. Phys. B, 2005, 14(8): 1626-1630.
No Suggested Reading articles found!