Micro- and nanoelectrode structures by template directed electrodeposition

为了获得新的材料特性、分析设备前所未有的灵敏度或计算能力的进一步跃升，生成特征尺寸比当前工业标准小一到两个数量级的结构是主要的科学和技术挑战之一。随着当前技术降低系统尺寸变得越来越困难和昂贵，需要替代方法。本项目提出了一种方案，该方案能够以一种简单的方式产生一方面尺寸在纳米范围内但另一方面可扩展到扩展区域的金属结构。这种结构在电子学、微/纳米机械、(生物)传感器或光子学等不同领域都有很大的应用价值。作为一种可复制的、并行的、在环境条件下适用的方案，该方案与其他图案生成概念有很大的不同。该方案结合了自组装单分子膜(SAM)提供的机会和电化学控制的金属化。通过自组装膜来定制表面性能的独特可能性被用于控制金属的电沉积和沉积金属与电极的粘附性。在第一步中，图案化的SAM充当模板以实现选择性金属沉积。这之后是将金属图案转移到绝缘衬底。该方案具有多个优点，首先，SAM允许自由的图案定义。其次，原始模板被恢复，因此可以重复使用，这需要最繁琐的步骤，模式的定义只需完成一次。第三，电化学的应用使其成为一个快速、并行的过程，即可以在更大的区域上产生金属图案。该项目的重点将是探索该方案可以扩展到纳米维度的程度。通过在电化学环境中应用非原位和原位扫描探针显微镜，本工作的目的是在分子水平上了解SAM的结构，即阐明SAM的结构与其电化学性质和粘附性之间的关系。

Aiming for new material properties, unprecedented sensitivity of analytical devices, or a further jump in computational power, the generation of structures with feature sizes another one to two orders of magnitude smaller what is currently the industrial standard is one of the major scientific and technological challenges. As it becomes increasingly difficult and expensive with current technologies to reduce system dimensions, alternative methods are required. The present project suggests a scheme which, in a simple way, enables the generation of metallic structures with, on the one hand, dimensions in the nanometer range but, on the other hand, scalability to extended areas. Such structures are interesting for applications in different areas such as electronics, micro/nano mechanics, (bio)sensors, or photonics. Being a replicative, parallel process and applicable under ambient conditions the scheme proposed here is very different from other concepts of pattern generation.The process combines the opportunities afforded by self-assembled monolayers (SAM) with those of electrochemically controlled metallisation. The unique possibilities to tailor surface properties by SAMs is utilised to control both electrodeposition of metal and adhesion of the deposited metal to the electrode. In a first step, a patterned SAM acts as a template to achieve selective metal deposition. This is followed by a transfer of the metal pattern to an insulating substrate. The scheme has a number of advantages as, firstly, the SAM allows free pattern definition. Secondly, the original template is recovered and, thus, can be reused which requires the most cumbersome step, the definition of the pattern to be done only once. Thirdly, the application of electrochemistry makes it a fast, parallel process, i.e., metal patterns can be generated on extended areas. It will be the focus of the project to explore how far the scheme can be extended into the nanoscopic dimension. By applying scanning probe microscopies both ex situ and in situ in an electrochemical environment the work aims for an understanding at the molecular level, that is, for the elucidation of the relationships between the structure of a SAM and its electrochemical and adhesion properties.