A comparative study of laser‐ and electric‐field‐induced effects on the crystallinity, surface morphology and plasmon resonance of indium and gold thin films

Abstract

The effects of post-deposition treatment of In and Au thin films by excimer laser and electric field are reported. The films were subjected to an electric field in the range of 0.1-3.3 kV/cm and laser irradiation in the range from 0.01 to 0.1 J/cm 2 . The effect of this treatment on the morphology and crystallinity of indium and gold thin films (10-100 nm thickness) is investigated. Indium films exhibited a three-fold grain growth at an electric field of 3.3 kV/cm. Gold thin film, on the other hand, showed significant grain growth at a much lower field of 0.6 kV/cm. The as-deposited thin films of indium and gold were amorphous but turned nanocrystalline with average crystallite sizes of 57 nm at 3.33 kV/cm and 35 nm at 0.66 kV/cm, respectively. When indium thin films were laser irradiated, flat disc-shaped grains for as-deposited thin films were transformed to spherical grains at a laser fluence of 0.02 J/cm 2 and cubical grains at 0.05 J/cm 2 . At 0.05 J/cm 2 , as-deposited amorphous indium and gold thin films turned nanocrystalline with crystallite sizes of 50 nm and 10 nm, respectively. Significantly, laser treatment causes the grain-size distribution to become narrower with a shift in mean size to larger values. Electric-field treatment on the other hand leads to a shifting of the mean grain size to larger values without affecting the distribution.

Laser flash synthesis of graphene and its inorganic analogues: An innovative breakthrough with immense promise

“…Also, there will be a defined window for a particular laser parameter, for example laser fluence, which would provide suitable conditions. Laser processing is emerging as a powerful technique for material manipulation in general [70][71][72][73][74][75] and for carbon materials 76 in particular. Laserbased clean optical techniques therefore seem to have huge application potential for quick and scalable synthesis of impurity free 2D atomic sheets of graphene and its inorganic analogues.…”

Directed Self-Assembly: Expectations and Achievements

“…It is observed that while the microstructural reconstruction of the surfaces can be manipulated, the amorphous–crystalline transition is irreversible [ 79 ]. Electric field–induced effects are having such substantial effects on grain size that it can work as a tool to play with the surface plasmonic modes of gold and indium [ 80 ]. For 50-nm-thin nickel film, electric field application has given rise to the growth of array of nickel nanodots (as shown in Fig.…”

Femtosecond Laser Assisted Crystallization of Gold Thin Films

“…Moreover, the non-selectivity of a particular region for localized annealing is an issue as higher temperatures can damage the other nearby components, often leading to contamination and degradation of electrical performance [ 11 ]. Laser annealing is versatile and rapid; it offers precise and localized energy distribution to the material and is reported for Au films using continuous wave [ 12 ] and pulsed nanosecond lasers [ 13 , 14 ]. However, long, and short pulse interaction causes material melting, followed by a cooling and a re-solidification process [ 15 ].…”