Study of Variation in Pore Diameter with Etching Rate and Fabrication of Copper Nano/Micro Wires Using Electrodeposition Method

Abstract

In the present work, polycarbonate (Makrofol KG) foils of thickness 10 µm were irradiated with Ag⁺¹³ ions (180 MeV) at a fluence of 2E7 ions/cm². Damages created by ion passage (called the latent tracks) in films were later chemically etched in an aqueous solution of 6 N NaOH solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the so created etched tracks shows the increase in diameter of pores with increasing etch-time. These etched track membranes were later successfully used as template for deposition of copper nano/micro wires via electrodeposition method.

Keywords:

• Copper nano/micro structure
• Electrodeposition
• Etching
• Ion beam
• Template synthesis
• Track-etch membrane

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The heavy ion facility provided by the Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are due to Mr. M. L. Sharma (RSIC, Punjab University, Chandigarh) for the SEM facility.