Nanometer-scale copper electrodeposition from an on-chip source

Using both an on-chip anode as a source of copper and a copper-free, acidic electroplating solution, we have fabricated electrodes with separations on the order of 10 nm or less. During the electrodeposition process, we observe steplike increases in conductance, corresponding to atomic rearrangement. These conductance steps indicate that the separation between the electrodes is on the atomic length scale. Applications of this technique include the fabrication of electrodes with nanometer separations and the repair of both malformed bus lines and damaged masks.