EAGER: Electrochemical Underpotential Co-deposition of Alloys: A Novel Manufacturing Technology

渴望吗?这项探索性研究（EAGER）早期概念资助为开发一种新的金属合金电化学薄膜沉积工艺提供了资金，该工艺在微电子、微传感器和信息存储设备的制造中具有潜在的用途。该工艺利用合金的形成能量，在纯元素不会沉积的条件下诱导活性更强的元素的沉积。在低沉积速率下，即在热力学极限下，沉积过程将由合金能量学主导，使其对反应器几何形状不敏感并增强均匀性。这项工作将集中在铂基二元和三元合金的合成上，目的是证明该工艺用于制造目的的可行性，以及生产用于信息存储的新型材料。要探索的制造问题包括毯子薄膜和平版印刷模式的成分和厚度均匀性以及可实现的沉积速率的限制。最后，将研究生产包含高活性元素的有序结构和合金的可能性。如果成功，这项研究将验证所提出的沉积方法是一种可行的制造工艺。特别是，这项工作将确定热力学预测和增长率在控制合金成分和均匀性方面的相对重要性，建立最佳的加工变量，以在预定的器件几何形状中实现所需的材料性能。此外，新型材料可以通过电化学方法制造，扩大了可用于微加工工艺的材料面板。这将反过来导致电沉积实践的创新，并将为各种新颖的设备设计和功能铺平道路。

EAGER ? Electrochemical underpotential co-deposition of alloys: a novel manufacturing technologyAbstractThis EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) grant provides funding for the development of a novel electrochemical film deposition process for metallic alloys, of potential use in the manufacturing of microelectronic, microsensors and information storage devices. This process exploits the energy of formation of the alloy to induce the deposition of the more reactive element under conditions where deposition of the pure element would otherwise not occur. At low deposition rates, i.e. in the thermodynamic limit, the deposition process will be dominated by the alloy energetics, making it insensitive to the reactor geometry and enhancing uniformity. This work will focus on the synthesis of platinum based binary and ternary alloys with the objective to demonstrate the viability of the process for manufacturing purposes, as well as to produce novel materials for information storage. Manufacturing issues to be explored include composition and thickness uniformity in blanket films and lithographic patterns and limits in the achievable deposition rates. Finally, the possibility to produce ordered structures and alloys including highly reactive elements will be investigated.If successful, this research will validate the proposed deposition method as a viable manufacturing process. In particular, this work will determine the relative importance of thermodynamic predictions and growth rate in controlling alloy composition and uniformity, establishing optimal processing variables to achieve the required material properties in a predetermined device geometry. Additionally, novel materials could be manufactured by electrochemical methods, widening the materials palette available for microfabrication processes. This will lead in turn to innovation in electrodeposition practice, and will pave the way to a variety of novel device designs and functionalities.