Selective palladium electrochemical deposition onto AFM-scratched silicon surfaces

The present work investigates the selective electrochemical deposition of palladium nano-structures into scratches produced through thin oxide layers covering p-Si (1 0 0) surfaces. Using an atomic force microscope equipped with a single-crystalline diamond tip scratches in the 100 nm range were produced through a 10 nm thick dry oxide layer. Pd deposition was carried out in PdCl 2 (0.01 g l −1)+HCl (0.1 M) by cathodic potential steps. Investigation of the palladium nucleation and growth processes onto silicon surfaces is presented. Under optimized conditions sub-100 nm palladium structures can be obtained with a very high selectivity.