Size Controlled Deposition of Cu and Si nano-clusters By an Ultra-high Vacuum Sputtering Gas Aggregation Technique

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2008

Publication Title

Applied Physics A: Materials Science and Processing

Volume

90

Issue

2

First page number:

299

Last page number:

303

Abstract

In this paper we have reported the syntheses of copper and silicon nano-clusters by a sputtering-gas-aggregation type growth technique. The process involves typical magnetron sputtering vaporization of target materials followed by an inert gas condensation to form clusters of varying sizes. The size-distributions of the clusters typically follow a normal-distribution and the peak cluster sizes of the distributions depends on several factors, which include gas-flow rate, length of the growth region, deposition pressure etc. We have observed a variation in the peak cluster size with the variation of the gas (argon) flow rates. The experimental values are compared with the existing models and the results are found to be in good agreement. The results are significant since it demonstrates that proper optimization of operation conditions can lead to desired cluster sizes as well as desired cluster-size distributions.

Keywords

Magnetron sputtering; Nanoparticles; Nanostructured materials; Ultrahigh vacuum

Disciplines

Electronic Devices and Semiconductor Manufacturing | Nanoscience and Nanotechnology | Nanotechnology Fabrication | Semiconductor and Optical Materials

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

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