Monitoring silver solid-state dewetting with in situ ellipsometry

Abstract

We consider the possibility of monitoring silver solid-state dewetting with in situ Ellipsometry. We first study the optical response of partially dewetted samples in correlation with their morphological structure measured by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). We find that the main features observed in microscopy are identifiable in Ellipsometry spectra. Then, we analyse the dielectric function extracted from in situ measurements to predict the progression in the dewetting process. We also identify two different behaviours leading to different final states.

On the solid-state dewetting of polycrystalline thin films: Capillary versus grain growth approach

“…The role of grains has been underlined [13,2,15], new diffusion pathways have been identified [17,16] and the role of crystalline orientation in anisotropic materials has been explored [36]. New approaches have been employed and developed to monitor dewetting morphology in situ (Atomic Force Microscopy, AFM [16]) and in real time (Scanning Electron Microscopy, SEM [13], Spectroscopic Ellipsometry, SE [12], Transmission Electron Microscopy, TEM [26,25]). These techniques have brought valuable information about the importance of grains in the kinetics of dewetting and the evolution of metallic structures and of holes.…”

Improved Morphological and Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) Properties of Fully Alloyed Bimetallic AgPt and Monometallic Pt NPs Via the One-Step Solid-State Dewetting (SSD) of the Ag/Pt Bilayers

“…The growth of isolated NPs from the continuous bilayer can be explained based on the thermal energy-induced SSD mechanism [28, 29]. The dewetting kinetics and thus structure, configurations, and arrangement of NPs can be directly determined by the control of growth parameters such as annealing temperature, initial film thickness, and substrate properties [30, 31]. In the SSD approach, the deposited films are adequately heated under controlled conditions to achieve various sizes and configuration of NPs based on the surface diffusion, interdiffusion, energy minimization, and equilibrium configurations.…”

“…1(e), (e-1), and k. As discussed, due to the high diffusivity and low-surface energy of Ag atoms, the intermixing can begin even at a relatively low temperature and thus, the global diffusivity of AgPt alloy can be enhanced and the formation of well-structured and isolated AgPt NPs can be achieved based on the Volmer-Weber growth model [41, 42]. As compared to the previous results of pure Ag or Pt NPs at similar growth conditions, these AgPt NPs showed significant variation in size, configuration, and density, which can be correlated to the enhanced atomic diffusivity of the AgPt alloy system [30, 34]. For instance, these AgPt alloy NPs were generally larger, isolated, and more uniform as compared to those of previously reported pure Pt and Ag NPs, and this clearly suggests an improved surface configuration of AgPt alloy NPs at similar growth conditions.…”

Electron beam evaporated Au islands as a nanoscale etch mask on few-layer MoS2 and fabrication of top-edge hybrid contacts for field-effect transistors

“…While electron beam lithography can enable patterning down to the 10s of nm regime, self-assembly of shapes, patterns, or particles can be incredibly useful, as it reduces the number of processing steps, the possibility for contamination, and may even improve accuracy in creating the pattern. Recently, the dewetting of less reactive metals, typically in columns VIII or IB of the periodic table (i.e., Fe [15], Ni [16] [17], Cu [18], Pd, Ag [19] [20] [21], Pt [22] [20], or Au [23] [24] [25]) has been exploited to create nanoscale patterns on various substrates relevant to nanoelectronics, including SiO2 [22] [23] [24] [25] [19] [20] [18], Si3N4 [16], Al2O3 [26], GaN [16], and InGaN [17]. Dewetting of Ag on MoS2 also allows for the creation of adjacent pairs of islands for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) [27].…”

“…Recently, the dewetting of less reactive metals, typically in columns VIII or IB of the periodic table (i.e. Fe [15], Ni [16,17], Cu [18], Pd, Ag [19][20][21], Pt [20,22], or Au [23][24][25]) has been exploited to create nanoscale patterns on various substrates relevant to nanoelectronics, including SiO 2 [18][19][20][22][23][24][25], Si 3 N 4 [16], Al 2 O 3 [26], GaN [16], and InGaN [17]. Dewetting of Ag on MoS 2 also allows for the creation of adjacent pairs of islands for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) [27].…”