Growth behavior of Cu, Ni and Cu/Ni electrodeposited microwires within porous Si

In this paper, a systematic growth behavior of Cu, Ni and Cu/Ni microwire arrays in porous silicon (PSi) templates is presented. After preparation of PSi templates via anodizing in HF solution, such microwires are successfully grown into PSi templates by electrodeposition method. Systematic scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging reveals that Cu seed nucleation occurs at the bottom and Ni seed nucleation starts on the wall of the silicon pores. The different growth models are explained according to the observed diffusion coefficients of ionic elements in electrodeposition baths. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) were used to further observe the structural characteristics of the grown microwires. We believe that this work can be used in developing microwires with desired structural characteristics. •Deposition of Cu, Ni, and Cu/Ni microwires within porous Si was investigated•Nucleation of Cu seed occurred at the bottom of silicone pores•Nucleation of Ni seed started on the wall of silicone pores