Synthesis-property relationships of electrochemically grown metal nanowires

We compare two approaches for template-assisted fully electrochemical fabrication of high-density arrays of metal (Ag, Ni) nanowires (NWs) with the aim of using these parallel aligned arrays as anisotropic interconnectors in vertical packaging. Herein, metal is electrodeposited either by a constant or a pulsed deposition potential. Different metals are observed to behave differently with respect to growth and length homogeneity. We further characterize both methods with respect to their influence on crystallographic and electrical conductivity properties of single NWs. Hereby, Ag NWs from a constant potential deposition are found to monocrstylline while Ag NWs from a pulsed deposition mode show polycrystalline structures with a defined grain boundary orientation. Ni NWs from constant potential deposition have been proven to feature a significantly higher electrical conductivity than NWs formed by pulsed deposition.