Self-healing metal wire using electric field trapping of metal nanoparticles

We propose a self-healing metal wire using electric field trapping of gold nanoparticles by a dielectrophoresis force. A cracked gold wire can retrieve its conductivity through the self-healing function. In this paper, we examine the healing voltage causing the electric field trapping and determine the healing time, which is relevant to future device applications. First, the forces acting on a nanoparticle are analyzed and a theoretical healing voltage curve is calculated. Then, gold wires with 200- to 1,600-nm-wide cracks are fabricated on glass substrate and the self-healing function is verified through healing experiments. As a result, gold wires with cracks of up to 1,200nm in width are successfully healed by applying less than ~2.5V (on average), and the experimental results correspond almost exactly with the calculated healing voltage curve. The average healing times are 10 to 285 s for 200- to 1,200-nm-wide cracks. Through scanning electron microscope analysis after the healing experiments, we confirm that the cracks are healed by assembled nanoparticles.