Comparing the growth of PVD silver nanoparticles on ultra thin fluorocarbon plasmapolymer films and self-assembled fluoroalkyl silane monolayers

Abstract

Adsorbed silver nanoparticles were prepared by means of electron beam evaporation ofsilver on ultra thin Si-supported heptadecafluoro-1-decene plasma polymer films andself-assembled heptadecafluorodecyl-trimethoxysilane monolayers. The morphology of thesilver nanoparticles, characterized by their size, size distribution, shape and interparticleseparation, was observed to depend on the type, chemical composition and surface energyof the sub-layer as well as the amount of silver deposited. Field emission-scanning electronmicroscopy was used to study the change in the morphology of the silver nanoparticles as afunction of the preparation parameters. The silver nanoparticles on the ultra thin plasmapolymer films demonstrated a much smaller and narrower size distribution due to thecross-linking within the film, which more effectively hinders the penetration of silverthrough the film in comparison to the self-assembled monolayers. Moreover, the opticalproperties of the resulting silver nanoparticles on the ultra thin fluorocarbon plasmapolymers and their correlation to size and size distribution were investigatedby spectroscopic ellipsometry in the wavelength range between 300 and 800 nm.