On fabrication technique of micro/nano materials by electromigration

Abstract

Micro/nano materials are utilized for various industrial products due to characteristic physical properties, such as high surface to volume ratio, high aspect ratio and so on. Among them, metal micro/nano materials especially have good workability and low-cost production. Metal micro/nano materials are expected to be used as next-generation materials in the future. Thus, the various fabrication techniques have been studied. Recently, the fabrication technique of metal micro/nano materials using electromigration (EM) has been reported. EM is a physical phenomenon of the atomic diffusion in a metal line with the high-density electron flow. It was reported that the metal micro/nano materials fabricated by EM have the single crystal structure and the strong mechanical strength. The previous study reported that the fabrication of Al micro/nano materials grown in a horizontal direction was realized and the difference of the sample structure resulted in the different shapes of Al micro/nano materials. It was well known that the current density caused by the sample structure was contributed to the shape of fabricated materials. On the other hand, the current density in a metal line could not be measured and it is difficult to predict the shape of fabricated materials. This paper shows the value of current density calculated by finite element analysis on the sample structure. The shape of micro/nano materials by EM can be predicted by using current density based on this result.