Scholarlink

<p>The capability to precisely fabricate and manipulate small-scale liquid metal droplets is important for the development of emerging technologies in the fields of micro-robotics, printable electronics, biomedical engineering, and nanocharacterization. However, the reproducible fabrication of liquid metal droplets with diameters at the micro- and sub-micrometer scale at a precisely defined location remains a key challenge towards realizing these applications. In this study, we demonstrate that sub-micron diameter liquid metal droplets can be fabricated in a reproducible manner via the combination of an electromigration and focused ion beam (FIB)-induced sputtering process. Electromigration is used to generate droplets at specific locations, and FIB sputtering is used to control the final diameter of the droplets. Using Galinstan as a case study, the method is established by analyzing the actual sputtering yield of Galinstan processed with different FIB parameters. The reproducibility of fabricating liquid metal droplets with a radius of 10 <InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\upmu\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>m and 5 <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\upmu\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>m is experimentally investigated, resulting in standard deviations of 0.168 <InlineEquation ID="IEq3"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\upmu\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>m and 0.63 <InlineEquation ID="IEq4"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\upmu\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>m, respectively. The evaluated fabrication method is therefore expected to be well suited for developing liquid metal-based robotic actuators, drug delivery devices, and contact angle measurement (CAM) techniques carried out inside the scanning electron microscope (SEM).</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Reproducible fabrication of liquid metal droplets via electromigration and FIB sputtering in SEM

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2025年9月18日

查看全文
  • Yuning Lei,
  • James L. Mead,
  • Waldemar Klauser,
  • Sergej Fatikow

摘要

The capability to precisely fabricate and manipulate small-scale liquid metal droplets is important for the development of emerging technologies in the fields of micro-robotics, printable electronics, biomedical engineering, and nanocharacterization. However, the reproducible fabrication of liquid metal droplets with diameters at the micro- and sub-micrometer scale at a precisely defined location remains a key challenge towards realizing these applications. In this study, we demonstrate that sub-micron diameter liquid metal droplets can be fabricated in a reproducible manner via the combination of an electromigration and focused ion beam (FIB)-induced sputtering process. Electromigration is used to generate droplets at specific locations, and FIB sputtering is used to control the final diameter of the droplets. Using Galinstan as a case study, the method is established by analyzing the actual sputtering yield of Galinstan processed with different FIB parameters. The reproducibility of fabricating liquid metal droplets with a radius of 10 \(\upmu\) m and 5 \(\upmu\) m is experimentally investigated, resulting in standard deviations of 0.168 \(\upmu\) m and 0.63 \(\upmu\) m, respectively. The evaluated fabrication method is therefore expected to be well suited for developing liquid metal-based robotic actuators, drug delivery devices, and contact angle measurement (CAM) techniques carried out inside the scanning electron microscope (SEM).