Forced Wetting by Ion Implantation for Liquid Nanoelectronics

In this paper a strategy for and the fabrication of liquid metal (LM) nanoelectronics is presented. Two techniques that were invented by our group are combined for the highly accurate fabrication of arbitrary two-dimensional LM structures. The electromigration technique is applied for the highly controllable fabrication of LM volumes and the forced wetting by ion implantation technique is used for the manipulation of LM reservoirs into functionalized structures. The ion implantation technique represents a completely new technique for nanoscale LM manipulation and offers new possibilities for reversible and highly accurate patterning of surfaces using LM. By combining these two techniques, LM can be patterned into nanoelectronic components. These components are afterwards characterized by AC and RF measurements. The results obtained show the beneficial effects of using the LM. Both contact resistance and abrasion effects are significantly reduced, which can greatly extend the longevity of electronic components and significantly reduce measurement errors.