Droplet-confined electroplating for nanoscale additive manufacturing: current control of the initial stages of the growth of copper nanowires

TL;DR

This paper investigates how controlling the current during droplet-confined electroplating can improve the precision and reliability of nanoscale copper nanowire growth, enabling advanced microfabrication.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic analysis of current during droplet-confined electrodeposition, linking it to growth dynamics and morphology, and proposes optimized strategies for controlled 3D nanostructure fabrication.

Findings

Different deposition regimes identified

Current correlates with volume and morphology of copper deposits

Potential for submicron resolution in functional structure fabrication

Abstract

Droplet-confined electrodeposition enables a precise deposition of three dimensional, nanoscopic and high purity metal structures. It aspires to fabricate intricate microelectronic devices, metamaterials, plasmonic structures and functionalized surfaces. Yet, a major handicap of droplet-confined electrodeposition is the current lack of control over the process, which is owed to its dynamic nature and the nanoscopic size of the involved droplets. The deposition current offers itself as an obvious and real-time window into the deposition. Therefore, the current during droplet-confined deposition is analysed. Nucleation and growth dynamics are evaluated systematically. Our results indicate different deposition regimes and link current to both volume and morphology of deposited copper. This allows for optimized electroplating strategies and to calibrate the slicing algorithms necessary for a controlled deposition of 3D structures. The potential of selecting appropriate solvents further readies this novel technique for the reliable deposition of functional structures with submicron resolution.