FESEM studies of densely packed aligned nickel nanopillars on silicon substrate by electrochemical deposition through porous alumina membrane

Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopic studies of the electrochemically grown highly oriented Ni nanopillars within the arrays of porous alumina membrane have been investigated. Both secondary electron emission and backscatter detection modes are applied to study the fabrication of free-standing Ni nanopillars on metal-coated silicon substrate. FESEM imaging clearly shows the growth of the nanopillars through the nanopores. Backscatter imaging depicts the compositional variations across the Ni/alumina/Ta/Si structure with clear contrasts at the metallic/non-metallic interfaces. The alumina membrane is also etched out to get free-standing Ni nanopillars and FESEM imaging verifies the growth of the vertically oriented nanopillars on Si substrate. These densely packed, highly ordered nanopillars have excellent magnetic, field-emission and sensing applications.