This manuscript describes a laboratory exercise that
allows students
to use conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) for the analysis
of electrodeposited, metallic structures. In addition to nanoscale
electrical characterization with CAFM, this laboratory exercise also
provides students with an opportunity to explore nanofabrication by
electrodepositing metallic structures in the channels of a patterned,
polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) template. The goals of this experiment
include characterization of electrodeposited structures with atomic
force microscopy (AFM), assessing the conductivity of the electrodeposited
structures by acquiring conductivity images, and determining the method
of electrical conduction using current–voltage (I–V) curves collected with CAFM.