Dip-pen-based direct writing of conducting silver dots

• Silver dots are fabricated by dip-pen nanolithography.
• Silver(I) carboxylate in diethylene glycol is used as precursor ink.
• Parameters such as substrate functionalization and ink composition are investigated.
• Structure sizes range from ∼20 μm to ∼2 μm.
• Metallic conductivity of generated structures is proven.

Direct fabrication of micro- and nanoscale metallic structures is advantageous for many applications. Here, we use dip-pen lithography with silver(I) carboxylate [AgO2C(CH2OCH2)3H] in diethylene glycol as precursor ink for the generation of conducting metal structures. After annealing the written dots, solid silver structures are generated. We investigate the influence of several parameters such as substrate functionalization and ink composition on the pattern formation. We found that a substrate coating with perfluorinated silane is necessary, if diethylene glycol will be used as ink carrier. By variation in ink concentration and ink carrier composition, structures with diameters ranging from ∼20 μm to ∼2 μm and with metal fractions ranging from ∼5% to ∼80% were fabricated. After gold enhancement of the written patterns, resistivities in the range of 4 × 10−5 Ωm on the structures were determined. The ink system introduced here appears promising for the direct fabrication of various metal or metal oxide patterns.

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