Abstract
In this work we study the fabrication and characterization of hafnium nanoparticles and hafnium nanoparticle thin films. Hafnium nanoparticles were grown in vacuum by magnetron-sputtering inert-gas condensation. The as deposited nanoparticles have a hexagonal close-packed crystal structure, they possess truncated hexagonal biprism shape and are prone to surface oxidation when exposed to ambient air forming core–shell Hf/HfO2 structures. Hafnium nanoparticle thin films were formed through energetic nanoparticle deposition. This technique allows for the control of the energy of charged nanoparticles during vacuum deposition. The structural and nanomechanical properties of the nanoparticle thin films were investigated as a function of the kinetic energy of the nanoparticles. The results reveal that by proper adjustment of the nanoparticle energy, hexagonal close-packed porous nanoparticle thin films with good mechanical properties can be formed, without any additional treatment. It is shown that these films can be patterned on the substrate in sub-micrometer dimensions using conventional lithography while their porosity can be well controlled. The fabrication and experimental characterization of hafnium nanoparticles is reported for the first time in the literature.
Highlights
In the past decades, the interest in and the exploitation of metal nanoparticles (NPs) spread across many areas of nanoscience
We have reported that hcp hafnium nanoparticles fabricated by inert-gas condensation, when embedded into a metal-oxide layer, result in a completely new behavior of resistive switching compared with pristine metal-oxide layers, which is important for operation and understanding of nonvolatile resistive random-access memory (ReRAM) [20]
Hf NPs were produced by inert-gas condensation technique under exactly the same deposition conditions described above, except for the substrate bias voltage Vs
Summary
The interest in and the exploitation of metal nanoparticles (NPs) spread across many areas of nanoscience. The structure, shape and size of hafnium nanoparticles were characterized by combining X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). AFM and TEM images reveal the height and diameter of the NPs. Faceted Hf nanoparticles were formed with a mean size of (diameter × height) 16 nm × 15 nm and 9.5 nm × 7 nm for aggregation-zone lengths of D = 100 mm and D = 50 mm, respectively (Figure 1).
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