Reaction of nanometer-sized Cu particles with a SiO2 substrate

CVD Growth of Large Area Smooth-edged Graphene Nanomesh by Nanosphere Lithography

“…S2b). Van den Oetelaar et al reported that nanometer-sized Cu particles were able to react with a SiO 2 substrate forming Cu silicide at 620°C under ultra-high vacuum26. So we believe that Cu 3 Si, a typical Cu silicide, forms already at the Cu-SiO 2 interface before graphene growth, and that the evaporation of Cu 3 Si with a melting point of 825°C results in the observed holes since growth occurs at 900°C.…”

Interaction of nanostructured metal overlayers with oxide surfaces

“…They observed that Pt particles become partially immersed in the SiO 2 surface with a concurrent formation of a SiO 2 ridge around the base of the Pt particles when annealing the catalysts at 1200 and 1375 K. The encapsulating process was driven by the minimization of surface free energy in the Pt/SiO 2 system. Van den Oetelaar et al studied the thermal stability of Cu particles supported on a thick SiO 2 layer (400-500 nm) by LEIS, AFM, and RBS [593,598]. The disappearance of Cu from the outermost atomic layer of the UHV annealed Cu/SiO 2 model catalysts was attributed to encapsulation of the Cu particles by silicides.…”

“…Alloy formation: In metal/SiO 2 (thinlayer)/Si model systems, many metals can diffuse to SiO 2 /Si interface, where they react with Si substrates to form metal silicides [593,594,596,[598][599][600][601][602]604].…”

Silicide formation by high-temperature reaction of Rh with model SiO2 films

“…The thermal treatment at 873 K of a Cu/SiO 2 model catalyst in ultrahigh vacuum ͑UHV͒ produced a copper silicide which was detected by Auger-electron and low-energy ion scattering spectroscopy. 8 Sadi and co-workers 9 reported the formation of Rh 2 Si after high temperature reduction ͑1253 K͒ of a Rh/SiO 2 catalyst. They used x-ray diffraction to identify the silicide and H 2 O titration to quantify the amount of reduced centers on the catalyst surface.…”