Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of 4''-methylbiphenyl-4-thiol (MBP0) adsorbed on polycrystalline gold substrates served as\r\ntemplates to control electrochemical deposition of Cu structures from acidic solution, and enabled the subsequent lift-off of the\r\nmetal structures by attachment to epoxy glue. By exploiting the negative-resist behaviour of MBP0, the SAM was patterned by\r\nmeans of electron-beam lithography. For high deposition contrast a two-step procedure was employed involving a nucleation phase\r\naround 0.7 V versus Cu2+/Cu and a growth phase at around 0.35 V versus Cu2+/Cu. Structures with features down to 100 nm\r\nwere deposited and transferred with high fidelity. By using substrates with different surface morphologies, AFM measurements\r\nrevealed that the roughness of the substrate is a crucial factor but not the only one determining the roughness of the copper surface\r\nthat is exposed after lift-off.
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