Commercial plating of nanolaminates

A method for forming a nanolaminate structure, the method comprising:

• defining a conductive pattern on a mandrel;
• plating the conductive pattern on the mandrel with a plurality of alternating layers of substantially a first metal and substantially a second metal so as to at least partially define the nanolaminate structure;
• and separating the nanolaminate structure from the mandrel;
• wherein plating the mandrel comprises providing a bath containing ions of the first metal and ions of the second metal, placing the mandrel which acts as a cathode at least partially within the bath, and controlling a plating current such that a current density at the cathode is maintained within a predefined range.

A method for forming a nanolaminate structure, the method comprising:

• providing a bath containing ions of a more noble metal and ions of a less noble metal;
• placing a substrate which acts as a cathode at least partially within the bath;
• plating the cathode with one layer of substantially the more noble metal and substantially none of the less noble metal to a metal thickness and one layer of an alloy of the more noble and less noble metals to an alloy thickness, using an electrolytic plating process;
• and
• repeating said plating steps to obtain a predetermined number of layers;
• wherein a plating current is controlled to obtain a desired current density at the cathode within a predefined range and wherein at least one of the metal thickness and the alloy thickness are less than 100 nanometers.

A method for forming a nanolaminate structure, the nanolaminate structure comprising at least one layer of substantially a first metal having an individual layer thickness of 1000 nanometers or less, adjacent at least one layer of an alloy of the first metal and a second metal having an individual layer thickness of 1000 nanometers or less, the method comprising:

• defining a conductive pattern on a mandrel;
• plating the conductive pattern on the mandrel with a plurality of alternating layers of substantially the first metal and the alloy of the first metal and the second metal so as to at least partially define the nanolaminate structure;
• and
• separating the nanolaminate structure from the mandrel;
• wherein plating the mandrel comprises providing a bath containing ions of the first metal and ions of the second metal, placing the mandrel which acts as a cathode at least partially within the bath, and controlling a plating current such that a current density at a cathode is maintained within a predefined range.