Micro- and nanoelectrode structures by template directed electrodeposition

针对新的材料特性、分析设备前所未有的灵敏度或计算能力的进一步提升，生成特征尺寸比目前的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。随着使用当前技术来减小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，该方案以简单的方式使金属结构的生成成为可能，一方面，尺寸在纳米范围内，但另一方面，可扩展到扩展区域。这种结构对于不同领域的应用是有趣的，例如电子学、微/纳米机械学、（生物）传感器或光子学。作为一个可复制的，并行的过程和适用于环境条件下的计划，这里提出的是非常不同于其他概念的图案generation.The过程相结合的机会，由自组装单分子膜（SAM）的电化学控制的金属化。利用SAM定制表面特性的独特可能性来控制金属的电沉积和沉积金属对电极的粘附。在第一步骤中，图案化SAM充当模板以实现选择性金属沉积。接着将金属图案转移到绝缘衬底上。该方案具有许多优点，首先，SAM允许自由模式定义。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，可以在扩展区域上产生金属图案。这将是该项目的重点，以探索多远的方案可以扩展到纳米尺度。通过应用扫描探针显微镜在电化学环境中的原位和非原位的工作的目的是在分子水平上的理解，也就是说，为阐明SAM的结构和它的电化学和粘附性能之间的关系。

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.