Abstract
The development of a massively parallel lithographic technique called electrochemical polymer pen lithography is reported. Pyramidal pen arrays, consisting of more than 10 000 hydrogel pens loaded with metal salts, are integrated into a three-electrode cell and used to locally reduce ions at each pen tip. This system enables high-throughput patterning of a variety of metallic inks (e.g., Ni2+, Pt2+, Ag+) on the nanometer to micrometer length scale. By incorporating a z-direction piezo actuator, the extension length and dwell time can be used to precisely define feature dimensions (210 to 10 µm in width, and up to 900 nm in height, thus far). Furthermore, by controlling the potential and precursor concentrations, more than one element can be simultaneously deposited, creating a new tool for the synthesis of alloy features, such as Ni-Co, which are relevant for catalysis. Importantly, this methodology enables fine control over feature size and composition in a single pattern, which may make it ultimately useful for rapid, high-throughput combinatorial screening of metallic features.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2100662 |
| Journal | Small |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue number | 28 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 15 2021 |
Funding
E.O. and R.G. contributed equally to this work. This material is based upon work supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under awards FA9550‐16‐1‐0150 (ePPL architectural design) and FA9550‐18‐1‐0493 (patterning and characterization); the Center for Bio‐Inspired Energy Science, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award DE‐SC0000989 (hydrogel synthesis); and the Air Force Research Laboratory under agreement FA8650‐15‐2‐5518 (alloy catalyst synthesis). The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of Air Force Research Laboratory or the U.S. Government. This work made use of the NUFAB facility of Northwestern University's NUANCE Center, which has received support from the SHyNE Resource (NSF ECCS‐2025633), the IIN, and Northwestern's MRSEC program (NSF DMR‐1720139). This work made use of the EPIC facility of Northwestern University's NUANCE Center, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS‐1542205); the MRSEC program (NSF DMR‐1720139) at the Materials Research Center; the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Keck Foundation; and the State of Illinois, through the IIN. The authors thank Woo Je Chang for helpful discussion and advice. E.O. and R.G. contributed equally to this work. This material is based upon work supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under awards FA9550-16-1-0150 (ePPL architectural design) and FA9550-18-1-0493 (patterning and characterization); the Center for Bio-Inspired Energy Science, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award DE-SC0000989 (hydrogel synthesis); and the Air Force Research Laboratory under agreement FA8650-15-2-5518 (alloy catalyst synthesis). The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of Air Force Research Laboratory or the U.S. Government. This work made use of the NUFAB facility of Northwestern University's NUANCE Center, which has received support from the SHyNE Resource (NSF ECCS-2025633), the IIN, and Northwestern's MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1720139). This work made use of the EPIC facility of Northwestern University's NUANCE Center, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-1542205); the MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1720139) at the Materials Research Center; the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Keck Foundation; and the State of Illinois, through the IIN. The authors thank Woo Je Chang for helpful discussion and advice.
Keywords
- electrochemistry
- lithography
- patterning
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biotechnology
- General Chemistry
- Biomaterials
- General Materials Science
- Engineering (miscellaneous)