Continuous and Stable Printing Method of Planar Microstructure Based on Meniscus-Confined Electrodeposition

• Published in: Materials 2024-09, Vol.17 (18), p.4650
• Main Authors: Yang, Yawen, Wan, Hanchi, Xing, Qiang, Zhang, Xiaoping, Xu, Haili
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Additive manufacturing; Batteries; Copper; Electrochemical cells; Electrochemical reactions; Electrodeposition; Methods; Microstructure; Morphology; Nanofabrication; Principles; Singular value decomposition; Tuning
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma17184650

The meniscus-confined electrodeposition (MCED) technique offers advantages such as low cost and wide applicability, making it a promising method in the field of micro/nanofabrication. However, unstable meniscal morphology and poor deposition quality during planar deposition in MCED necessitate the development of improved methods. Therefore, a planar adaptive micro-tuning deposition method (PAMTDM), which utilizes the positioning technology of scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM) and employs a singular value decomposition (SVD) planar fitting method to determine the flatness of the deposition plane, is proposed. An adaptive micro-tuning motion mode was proposed by analyzing the variation patterns of the meniscus. Moreover, a combination of multi-physics finite element simulations and orthogonal experimental methods was introduced to determine the optimal motion parameters. The experimental results demonstrate that the PAMTDM effectively addresses the issues encountered during planar growth. Compared to the point-by-point deposition method, the PAMTDM achieves a threefold increase in deposition speed for continuous deposition of 105-μm-long line segments in two-dimensional planes, with a deposition current error of less than 0.2 nA. In conclusion, the proposed method provides significant insights into the broad future applications of MCED.