"The Nanoprobe at Argonne’s CNM: Concept and First Experiments on the Electrical Failure Analysis in Au Nanowires"

Q. Huang¹, C. M. Lilley¹, R. S. Divan², and Matthias Bode²

¹Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
²Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory

In March 2008 Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) received an Omicron combined 4-probe STM/SEM which can be accessed by users based on a peer-reviewed proposal submission process. The system is fully UHV compatible and equipped with basic tools for in-situ surface preparation and analysis.

We will present the general layout and first results of failure analysis study performed on polycrystalline gold nanowires which were patterned with e-beam lithography from a gold film deposited by e-beam evaporation. Two types of failure analyses were performed: failure current density and electromigration. It was experimentally found that the failure current density increases for the smaller width wire which allows the evaluation of size and surface effects.

Also, in-situ electromigration studies on gold nanowires were performed with SEM (see below). Simultaneously acquired resistance measurements reveal an initial drop of the resistance, probably a result of annealing. In the following electromigration leads to the formation of voids and the built-up of material at other places. First experiments on epitaxially grown nanowires will be described.