Gallium based liquid metals are useful for stretchable and flexible electronics but have had limited pattern resolution due to their high surface tension. Recent research has enabled arbitrary patterns with widths and spaces down to 100 nm. This was achieved by using selective areas of gold to control the placement of the liquid metal. The high surface energy of the gold surface improves the yield and quality of the liquid metal patterning. These results have the potential to open up a new area of photonic applications utilizing liquid metals.
These results were recently reported by Md Abdul Kaium Khan, Yaoli Zhao, Shreyan Datta, Puspita Paul, Shoaib Vasini, Thomas Thundat, and Peter Q. Liu of the University of Buffalo Center for Advanced Semiconductor Technologies. The work was partially accomplished utilizing an STS-Elionix ELS-G100 electron beam lithography system.
For more information see https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202403722
Image (courtesy Peter Liu): Scanning electron micrographs of various patterns of gallium based liquid metal with scale bar = 1 µm.