Fabrication of Directed Nanowire Networks Through Stress -Guided Self -Assembly
An experimental and theoretical study on the nature of multilayer fracture and resulting crack patterns under various stress states is followed by a novel, bottom-up technique for nanowire fabrication based on controlled cracking of thin SiO2 coatings on Si substrates, where each crack with its nanoscale opening serves as a mold to be filled with electroless Ni. When Ni deposition is followed by the removal of SiO2, Ni filling will emerge as an exact replica of the crack network made of nanowires. The next level of complexity, i.e. a high level of control on wire directionality making the method competitive with top-down approaches, is achieved by specifying initiation and termination points of each crack. This leads to a self-assembled crack network with directions and numbers of cracks designed according to device-specific requirements. The method's potential for structural applications is also presented by obtaining long nanocantilevers and bridges.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign