Growth of Metal Nanowhiskers on Patterned Substrate by High Temperature Glancing Angle Deposition

Abstract

In this study, we carry out high temperature glancing angle deposition (HT-GLAD) of Fe and Al on a heated substrate with trench patterns. When vapor is incident perpendicular to the trench direction, nanowhiskers grow only on the surface exposed to the vapor and not inside the trenches. When vapor is incident at a deposition angle larger than 80° on the sidewall of the trench and not on the substrate surface, nanowhiskers grow only on the sidewall because the condition of deposition at a high temperature and a large deposition angle is satisfied only for the sidewall. Thus, we succeed in the selective growth of nanowhiskers by controlling the geometrical deposition conditions. Further, we also discuss the effect of the local deposition geometry on the growth process. Geometrically selective growth by HT-GLAD is expected to be useful for growing nanowhiskers on nano- and microstructured substrates. © 2009 The Electrochemical Society.