Low Temperature RF-Plasma Initiated Rapid and Highly Ordered Fracture on Ag Nanowires

Abstract

Highly ordered Ag particle-chains (AgPCs) have been obtained from Ag nanowires (AgNWs) by radio frequency (RF) plasma treatment. Such conversion is attributed to the fast nonequilibrium diffusion of Ag atoms (liquid-like behavior) on AgNWs surfaces through the plasma bombarding. Further, the formed AgPCs highly coincide with the predictions by Rayleigh instability. In contrast to heat treatment, AgPCs are formed rapidly, highly ordered and at temperature below 100 • C. Furthermore, aperiodicity and wire-wire welding instead of highly ordered particle-chains has been observed as the AgNWs are overlapped by plasma treatment. This work should provide a new perspective for metallic particle-chains fabrication.

Roughening transition as a driving factor in the formation of self-ordered one-dimensional nanostructures

“…Here we take note of an important fact: in experimental studies, a weak heating of the nanowire during its bombardment is noted. In our numerical simulations, the results of which are in good agreement with the experimental data [32,79], the activation of surface diffusion is presented by some increase in the parameter 𝑝, while the value of 𝛼 corresponds to the weak heating of the nanowire. It is important to note that the acceleration of surface diffusion is not followed by nanowire heating.…”

“…9A, and dramatically depends on the orientation of the nanowire axis. Note that the effect of a significant increase of the wavelength of developing disturbances (𝜆 ≳ 12𝑟 𝑛𝑤 > 𝜆 𝑚𝑎𝑥 ) is indeed observed in recent experiments [79], in which the abnormally high diffusion of surface atoms is caused by bombardment of the Ag-nanowire by Ar + ions formed in low-temperature RF (radio frequency) plasma (the temperature of the nanowire did not exceed 100 𝑜 C).…”

Impact of Radio Frequency Plasma Power on the Structure, Crystallinity, Dislocation Density, and the Energy Band Gap of ZnO Nanostructure

“…On the other hand, it has been reported, previously by other authors, that it is not easy to deposit multicomponent materials with highly precise stoichiometry using various substances since dissimilar substances possess dissimilar vaporization rates . It is significant to mention that an alteration of RF plasma power can change the ionization of ambient argon gases, the kinetic energy of bombarding ions, kinetic energy of atoms, reactive species, and the substrate temperature . Therefore, we are likely to manage the stoichiometry of the ZnO film basically by modifying the ambient working gas in RF plasma deposition …”

Hierarchical Structuring of Black Silicon Wafers by Ion-Flow-Stimulated Roughening Transition: Fundamentals and Applications for Photovoltaics

“…Specifically, when irradiated with electrons, a gold nanowire with the [110] orientation, which is the most resistant to fragmentation, formed pronounced stable modulations of its radius with a wavelength of λ ∼ 5.6r 0 < λ cr . However, the results of experiments [77] for an Ag nanowire with the [111] orientation turned out to be unexpected. The surface diffusion of its atoms was stimulated by argon ions Ar + that caused the nanowire to disintegrate into fragments of length l ∼ 16r 0 instead of l ∼ 8r 0 , which would develop in the absence of irradiation.…”

“…To achieve this goal, we also made theoretical calculations of the elementary processes leading to the formation of beneficial nano-and micro-structures. Our approach is based on our ideas and results developed earlier [77,78,91]. One of the important factors responsible for the formation of self-ordered surface structures is the re-precipitation of atoms or ions that have previously evaporated from the surface.…”