Characterization of self-organized crystalline Au nanoparticles embedded in epitaxially grown SrTiO₃

Abstract

Abstract

Crystallographic investigation of Au nanoparticles embedded in a SrTiO3 thin film for plasmonics applications by means of synchrotron radiation

“…In general, the situation looks somehow more complex, as the presence of additional lines and small spots (along the (100) and (010) at χ ≈ 11 • and χ ≈ 16 • ) testifies. The observed lack of a rigid crystallographic orientation may be attributed to the greater Au nanoparticles size or the structural modifications of the surrounding STO matrix observed for the relatively high value of the initial Au layer thickness considered 20 . Other Au nanoparticles preferred orientations in addition to the central one are also clearly visible for the samples with 3 and 2 nm of Au.…”

“…A sample grown in the same way (5 nm of Au), but without the STO top layer was additionally considered: it allowed to investigate the 3D islands of the Au layer dewetted by the annealing process. The STO thin film was found to display a crystalline growth ((001) epitaxy) for all the values of the Au layer thickness below 8 nm: for 8 nm of deposited Au a rather polycristalline film results instead 20 .…”

Engineering crystalline Au nanoparticles of anisotropic shape in epitaxially grown high-index SrTiO3

“…Thus, the seed particles were elongated into the growth direction of the STO, especially for thicker Au films, and show a (111)-orientation parallel to the substrate surface. Error bars for size determination by XRD are given for instance by deformation gradients of the lattice plane [31]. The particles in the matrix produced from and 4 nm Au layers exhibit a similar aspect ratio c/a of *1.9, whereas the aspect ratio of the particles based on 1 nm Au seed layer is *1.…”