363d Maskless Electrodeposited Contact to Organic Nanowires

Carlos Hangarter, Youngwoo Rheem, Ashok Mulchandani, Wilfred Chen, Marc A. Deshusses, and Nosang V. Myung. Department of Chemcial and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521

Lithographic contact of assembled nanostructures is a bottleneck procedure increasing processing time and complexity with alignment requirements. Moreover, the seemingly benign lithographic processing conditions can be harsh environments for organic materials, subjecting the nanowires to high intensity ultra violet light, a polymer spin coat, and organic solvents that may permanently degrade, stress, or dissolve organic nanowire surfaces. This work investigates a post-assembly electrodeposition technique for mechanical joints and intimate contact of organic nanowires. Conducting polymer nanowires, PEDOT, P3HT, and PPy were dielectrophoretically assembled on prefabricated Au electrodes and the nanowire ends were embedded in ferromagnetic materials via electrodeposition. The high resistance of the polymer nanowire inhibited electrodeposition on the wire. The potential and different electrolytes were found to have a significant impact on the selective maskless deposition. Different dopants were also investigated to understand the polymer reduction during cathodic deposition of metal. A single dodecyl sulfate doped polypyrrole nanowire with maskless electrodeposited nickel contacts was shown to have improved sensitivity toward ammonia gas.