Fabrication, microstructure, and mechanical properties of high strength cobalt sub-micron structures

Ordered arrays of ferromagnetic, compositionally graded Cu1−xNix alloy nanopillars prepared by template-assisted electrodeposition

“…Co, In, Sn, Au and Cu) have been prepared using EBL combined with electrodeposition. [18][19][20][21][22] Examples of alloy nanopillars grown using this approach are even more limited (NiFe is almost the only example available), 23 mostly due to the difficulty in achieving the co-deposition of metals in nano-sized cavities. Compared to AAO membranes, e-beam lithographed substrates offer the possibility to prepare fully ordered arrays of diverse nanostructure geometries on pre-dened substrate areas, enabling easier integration in NEMS and spintronics devices, as well as their implementation in high-density magnetic storage systems.…”

Geometric effects on the mechanical strengths of strong nanocrystalline rhodium sub-micron structures

“…Similarly, Burek et al [22] demonstrated that the presence of grain boundaries in bismuth sub-micron scale pillars also significantly reduces their mechanical strength. Investigation into the small-scale mechanics of other nanocrystalline metals, such as cobalt [23] and copper [24], revealed similar softening characteristics with shrinking exterior diameter of specimens. Recently, Gu et al [25] demonstrated that nanocrystalline platinum exhibits size-dependent mechanical softening, which was found to agree with molecular dynamics simulations.…”

“…As well, ion-induced damage in small-scale metallic pillars fabricated by conventional focused ion beam (FIB) milling has routinely been shown to influence the observed mechanical behaviour [37][38][39][40][41]. Moreover, the electron beam lithography and electroplating fabrication scheme has proven to be excellent for nanoscale mechanical testing specimen, as the resulting pillars are virtually taper free across a large size range [23,25,34]. Fabrication of sub-micron rhodium pillars began with silicon substrates coated with a~20-nm titanium adhesion layer and a~20-nm-thick gold conductive layer.…”