Sn microparticles made by plasma-induced dewetting

Morphological and magnetic study of plasma assisted solid-state dewetting of ultra-thin cobalt films on conductive titanium silicon nitride supports

“…Solid-state dewetting is indeed governed by the initial film thickness, Nuryadi et al have demonstrated that the height h and the diameter d of agglomerated Si islands, as well as their surface density, are a function of the initial Si thickness [49]. Moreover experimental results indicate that, whatever the experimental conditions are, dewetting is closely related to the initial thickness of the films, with linear variation in the case of hole nucleation and growth [50,51], and a 5/3 power variation in the case of spinodal dewetting [24,52], the density of nanoparticles varies as a function of the inverse of the square of the initial thickness of the films, h -2 . Three models are found in literature to calculate the size and density of dewetted nanoparticles:…”

“…However, it could be also intentionally used as an effective cost friendly process to form ordered arrays of self-organized nanoparticles on a desired substrate [18,19]. This process is driven by the difference in surface energy of the thin film and the underlying support and could be industrially scalable to morphologically transform continuous films (Cu [20], Au [21], Ag [22], Pt [23], Sn [24], Co [25]) into islands or droplets used to produce Nano devices. The nature of the substrate is a crucial factor in controlling these arrays and can vary depending on the desired application from semiconductors (Si [26,27], Ge [28]), insulators (SiO2 [20,29,30], Al2O3 [31][32][33], ZrO2 [34], MgO [35], Si3N4 [36]) or conductive alloys (TiSiN [37], TiN [38], AlSi [39], CoSi2 [40]).…”

When lithography meets self-assembly: a review of recent advances in the directed assembly of complex metal nanostructures on planar and textured surfaces

“…At this point, the continuous film is destabilized and the dewetting process prevails. This strategy, which was first demonstrated by Giermann and Thompson [89], has been used to assemble periodic arrays from films of Au [89,[103][104][105], Ag [106], Co [107] and Sn [108] where these demonstrations use either conventional or laser heating. This work revealed that the success of the directed assembly process, for a given texture, is dependent upon the optimization of the film thickness; films that are too thin break up in a disorganized manner due to natural instabilities on lengthscales smaller than those of the patterned features while those that are too thick form structures that are larger than and often incommensurate with the patterned features.…”

Dewetting behavior of Ge layers on SiO2 under annealing

“…When using thick continuous Ge layers on SiO 2 for their subsequent annealing at relatively low temperatures, the dewetting driving force may be insufficient for the layer agglomeration into arrays of individual particles. This effect is known for metal layers on dewetting surfaces, for which it was found that the minimum temperature necessary for the layer agglomeration is higher for thicker metal layers 1,31,32 . The thickness dependence of the dewetting process of Ge layers on SiO 2 is less studied.…”