Abstract
The fabrication of precise 2D Au nanoparticle arrays over a large area is presented. The technique was based on pre-patterning of the substrate before the deposition of a thin Au film, and the creation of periodic particle arrays by subsequent dewetting induced by annealing. Two types of pre-patterned substrates were used: The first comprised an array of pyramidal pits and the second an array of circular holes. For the dewetting of Au films on the pyramidal pit substrate, the structural curvature-driven diffusion cooperates with capillarity-driven diffusion, resulting in the formation of precise 2D particle arrays for films within a structure dependent thickness-window. For the dewetting of Au films on the circular hole substrate, the periodic discontinuities in the films, induced by the deposition, can limit the diffusion paths and lead to the formation of one particle per individual separated region (holes or mesas between holes), and thus, result in the evolution of precise 2D particle arrays. The influence of the pre-patterned structures and the film thickness is analyzed and discussed. For both types of pre-patterned substrate, the Au film thickness had to be adjusted in a certain thickness-window in order to achieve the precise 2D particle arrays.
Highlights
An increasing amount of scientific attention is being paid to the ordered arrangement of metallic nanoparticles, due to their wide range of potential applications in plasmonics [1,2], magnetic memories [3], DNA detection [4], and catalysis for nanowire and nanofiber growth [5,6]
Au films were deposited on flat, and two types of pre-patterned, SiO2/Si substrates for the thermal dewetting induced by an annealing process at 900 °C in N2
The presented results show that the characteristics of the dewetted particles depend on the film thickness, and that the pre-patterned substrates lead to a reduction of particle size and spacing, and result in the formation of precise 2D particle arrays via dewetting
Summary
An increasing amount of scientific attention is being paid to the ordered arrangement of metallic nanoparticles, due to their wide range of potential applications in plasmonics [1,2], magnetic memories [3], DNA detection [4], and catalysis for nanowire and nanofiber growth [5,6]. The synthesis of 3D arrays of ligand stabilized Au nanoparticles using the selfassembly method has been reported [7], and electron beam lithography has been used to define positioned nanoparticles at low throughput [8] Another simple method for the formation of nanoparticle arrays is based on the dewetting process of Beilstein J. Dewetting proceeds by surface diffusion even in the solid state well below the melting temperature of the film [9,10,11] Metals such as Ni, Ag, Co, and Au have a weak interaction with SiO2 substrate, which results in low activation energy for metal atom migration [12]
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