TY - JOUR A1 - She, Zhe A1 - DiFalco, Andrea A1 - Hähner, Georg A1 - Buck, Manfred T1 - Electron-beam patterned self-assembled monolayers as templates for Cu electrodeposition and lift-off JF - Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology PY - 2012/// VL - 3 SP - 101 EP - 113 SN - 2190-4286 DO - 10.3762/bjnano.3.11 PB - Beilstein-Institut JA - Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. UR - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.3.11 KW - electrochemical nanotechnology KW - electrodeposition KW - lithography KW - metallic nanostructures KW - self-assembled monolayers KW - thiols N2 - Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of 4'-methylbiphenyl-4-thiol (MBP0) adsorbed on polycrystalline gold substrates served as templates to control electrochemical deposition of Cu structures from acidic solution, and enabled the subsequent lift-off of the metal structures by attachment to epoxy glue. By exploiting the negative-resist behaviour of MBP0, the SAM was patterned by means of electron-beam lithography. For high deposition contrast a two-step procedure was employed involving a nucleation phase around −0.7 V versus Cu2+/Cu and a growth phase at around −0.35 V versus Cu2+/Cu. Structures with features down to 100 nm were deposited and transferred with high fidelity. By using substrates with different surface morphologies, AFM measurements revealed that the roughness of the substrate is a crucial factor but not the only one determining the roughness of the copper surface that is exposed after lift-off. ER -