One of the main limitations to the application of clusters on applied areas is the limited production; therefore, it is of great interest to up scale cluster production while keeping good size control. The Matrix-Assembly Cluster Source is a new high flux cluster source, which exploits cluster formation inside a solid rare gas matrix that is sputtered by an ion beam. Clusters are formed and ejected in this process. Here we report the production of Ag clusters when the rare gas is replaced by CO2 for the matrix formation at 20 K. Size distributions were determined from scanning transmission electron microscopy analysis of samples with four different metal loadings, 4%, 8%, 14%, and 23% of Ag atoms to CO2 molecules, and two ion beam energies, 1 keV and 2 keV. Cluster mean size showed weak dependence on metal loading, being ≈80 atoms for the first three concentrations, whereas the change in ion beam energy has caused cluster mean size to shift from 86 to 160 atoms. The results are interpreted in terms of bonding energy between Ag and CO2 and compared to the rare gas (Ar) matrix.
Coupling between nanoplasmonics and semiconducting materials can enhance and complement the efficiency of almost all semiconductor technologies. It has been demonstrated that such composites enhance the light coupling to nanowires, increase photocurrent in detectors, enable sub‐gap detection, allow DNA detection, and produce large non‐linearity. Nevertheless, the tailored fabrication using the conventional methods to produce such composites remains a formidable challenge. This work attempts to resolve that deficiency by deploying the immersion‐plating method to spontaneously grown gold clusters inside nano‐porous silicon (np‐Si). This method allows the fabrication of thin films of np‐Si with embedded gold nanoparticles (Au) and creates nanoplasmonic–semiconductor composites, np‐Si/Au, with fractional volume between 0.02 and 0.13 of the metallic component. Optical scattering measurements reveal a distinctive, 200 nm broad, localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonance, centered around 700 nm. Linear and non‐linear properties, and their time evolution are investigated by optically pumping the LSP resonance and probing the optical response with short wavelength infra‐red (2.5 μm) light. The ultrafast time‐resolved study demonstrates unambiguously that the non‐linear response is not only directly related to the LSP excitation, but strongly enhanced with respect to bare np‐Si, while its strength can be tuned by varying the metallic component.
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