Improved copper microcolumn fabricated by localized electrochemical deposition

Surface quality, geometry confinement, internal integrity, and mechanical properties are of great importance for the applications of microstructures fabricated by localized electrochemical deposition. This study shows that the copper microcolumn grown by resuming the anode and cathode to a given separation when the short-circuit contact occurs exhibits a nodular structure with microvoids residing on the nodular boundaries. Both the nodular structure and voids affect the apparent Young's modulus of the microcolumn. A deposition-detection-withdrawal control method, which totally avoids the short-circuit contact, is thus developed to grow the microcolumn with improved geometry confinement and internal integrity. (c) 2005 The Electrochemical Society.